


Frostbite

by Milly_O



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Eventual Sex, F/F, Hollstein - Freeform, many scientific inaccuracies, only in styria tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-06 18:38:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 38,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3144458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Milly_O/pseuds/Milly_O
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an endless winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Venturing out for supplies means facing untold dangers- and Laura catches the eye of one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Bike Safety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chapter in which we have a shopping list, unexpected company, a can of coke, and some manic cycling.

When I was a kid, going to the supermarket was either a chore or an adventure, depending on which parent I was with. When my mom led the shopping trip there was little joy to be had- she held her list firmly in hand and she stuck to it with unwavering determination. Vegetables were organic, preferably green and unnecessarily leafy. Any requests for a breakfast cereal that wasn't wholegrain were gently but firmly vetoed, and soda was rationed to twice a week. My dad, on the other hand, did not pay much attention to the food pyramid. Supermarket visits with him were free-for-alls, Disneyland for sugar-junkie little me. If it caught his fancy, it went in the cart. 'Reconstituted', 'sweetened' and 'dinosaur shaped' were magic words. Is it artificially flavored? In it goes. Is there a sausage with limbs and a face on the can? Perfect! Is it an unholy shade of orange? Even better! Then, after...things happened, that was the way it was all the time. It's easy to see where I got my less than healthy diet from.

As it turns out, my dad had the right idea- during an apocalypse, fresh produce is the first to pass its sell-by-date and potentially kill you (not that that's the biggest danger, let's be honest). When it comes to survival, anything pumped full of sugar and preservatives is your best friend.

I bear this in mind as I dismount my bike in the abandoned parking lot and lean it, as I have taken to doing, against the kiddie ride-on airplane by the entrance. At some point early on someone had helpfully but quite tragically wedged the automatic doors open with an artificial Christmas tree, baubles and all, and I clamber over it with what limited grace my heavily padded ski coat and a full-sized camping rucksack allow. I am immediately whacked in the face by the smell of decay, and I pull my scarf up to cover my nose whilst retching unattractively. I've never quite got used to the eerie silence, and my own footsteps seem to echo up into the roof. At least it's only mine I can hear. I pass the fruit and vegetable aisles without hesitation; after weeks of neglect they have been overtaken by horrifying mountains of mold in a whole spectrum of colors, and it's become a playground for toxic spores and mycologists alike. The next few are no use to me either, containing bottles of long-curdled milk and loaves of furry bread. As I pass by the meat aisle, now a wonderland for flies and maggots, I pull out a neatly folded piece of paper from my coat pocket and examine the list written in Perry's neat handwriting. Item one: ' _ **batteries**_ '. I grab a few packs as I pass the display. Batteries have really come into their own since the power went out, and constantly swapping them from device to device isn't an option when you're freezing _and_ starving.

A small, murky lake is beginning to form at the far end of the store, where the freezer cabinets are slowly defrosting and spilling out their contents. Muttering a small prayer that the blood-chilling perma-frost we have going on outside is enough to save the cartons of Ben and Jerry's, I turn onto the aisle that little me had always loved: the one with the snack cakes and cookies. Perry's list says " ** _Snacks- at least something fruit-flavored please, Laura_** ". With a small grin I begin to load my rucksack with packets of chocolate-chip cream-filled goodness. The fact that the stocks haven’t depleted since my last visit is both a comfort and a cause for worry- it means less competition for supplies, but also...fewer people to compete for them. I was quick to dismiss any morbid thoughts, time being of great importance, and moved on to the drinks aisle. Grape soda has always been my favorite, and I clear out the last cans before standing on tip-toes to reach a can of cola.

"Hi there, sweetheart."

 _Oh crap_. I freeze as soon as I hear the voice behind me. It's a girl's voice, certainly, and there's something about it that sends a shock zipping up my spine. I turn slowly, still gripping the cola can in my mitten-covered hand.

She stands at the end of the aisle, leaning casually against a tower of pepsi with a smirk on her face that says ' _gotcha_ '. Her dark eyes catch mine and her eyebrows raise just a fraction.

She's beautiful. I am painfully aware of every second I waste looking at her, but she's just so beautiful. Her cheekbones are high and defined, and her bangs are falling over her eyes just so. She's wearing startlingly tight leather pants and a black lacy shirt, short-sleeved. Wait a second - short-sleeves in this weather? Didn't her mother ever...no, there's something off about her, but I can't figure it out.

"You're the quiet type, huh cutie?" She's noticed me looking at her, and her smirk curls up in amusement.

"Uh, hi?" Real smooth, Laura. This is not good. Not good at all.

"You dropped something." She holds up a blue package of butterscotch cookies, dangling lazily from her hand. Did I drop those? Maybe, I mean I'm not exactly...no, Laura, focus. She might just be a helpful stranger, right? But that's not exactly common anymore. Dad taught me about stranger-danger pretty early on (imagine five-year-old me screaming blue-murder into the face of some poor concerned adult) and this one certainly looks dangerous, in a sexy dark angel sort of way _oh my god shut up brain._ And why isn't she cold? I'm in four layers of thermals, with one of LaFontaine's beanies tucked over my ears by a fussing Perry- "How about one more vest sweetie, just to be sure!"- and I'm still a little shivery.

"Uhm, thanks, but I don't like those ones."

"You sure?" She gestures to my rucksack on the floor beside me, with matching blue packs clearly visible inside. Busted. Oh crap, now what? I try and remember the things on LaFontaine's **List of Potential Dangers** \- **1.** Giant hail, **2.** Ice-beasts, **3.** Random unexpected chasms- but I can't remember them all while she's staring at me with those eyes. At least she's not an ice-beast. They're at least eight foot tall, and made of, well, ice, and I've only seen one once. I nearly peed myself. Now we keep a flamethrower in the porch, just in case.

"Are you ok, sweetheart? You seem a little...jumpy." Her voice is low and slightly raspy, and the words drip off her tongue like molasses _oh my god stop!_

"I'm all good, I'm just peachy!" My voice gets unnaturally high at the end of my sentence, and I've never even said 'peachy' before. Pull yourself together Laura! She looks like she wants to eat me, her eyes never moving from my face and her lips slightly parted. She takes a step towards me.

"Don't come any closer! I've got...cola?" I hold up the icy can and I know how utterly ridiculous I must look, all swaddled up and wearing _mittens_ , for heavenssake. I'm not even the least bit threatening, but she stops.

"What're you scared of, cutie? I don't bite." She presses her lips together in what I suppose is a smile but it looks like she wants to eat me. She looks me up and down slowly. She's sizing me up, judging the distance between us and the force needed to take me down, I'm sure of it. She's slim but her bare arms look strong. How can she not have frostbite by now? With all that exposed pale skin she should be a popsicle, though she's so hot she'd just _melt STOP STOP STOP IT!_ Suddenly, the ground starts rumbling beneath my feet and the pepsi tower beside the girl collapses, the cans rolling and jumping across the floor. _Earthquake_. I feel panic grip my insides. I have to get out of here. The girl, on the other hand, looks completely unfazed. Instead, she cocks her head to one side playfully and takes another step.

"Stay away from me! I know krav maga, I've got bear spray in my pocket..." She lets out a low, purring laugh and shakes her bangs out of her eyes. Something in her mouth catches the light, and suddenly I know why she's not wearing a jumper. Number four on the List of Potential Dangers.

It's a fang. She's a vampire.

I'm in so much trouble.

I take an unsteady step backwards, my rucksack rustling unsubtly against my ankle. She takes step forward. I take another step back. She smirks. "You want to dance, sweetheart?" She begins to hum a mocking waltz, swaying towards me in three-quarter time, one hand extended gracefully towards me. _She's going to drink my blood. The only thing left will be a dried out empty Laura-sack on the lino floor._ I snap my wrist back and hurl the cola can as hard as I can, then turn and run struggling to keep my balance as the vibrations get stronger. I hear the metallic thud of can hitting skin, but I do not look back. I sprint down the next aisle and the one after that, through a festering swamp of rotting who-knows-what, and towards the open door. I vault back over the Christmas tree and into the open, the cold biting into my cheeks and stunning me for a second.

"Hey, you!" I can't stop. My bike has fallen over and I seize it, running across the car park and throwing myself into the saddle, the momentum nearly propelling me straight over the handlebars. Cracks begin to appear in the concrete as I speed away, my legs pedaling like hellfire. I look back, just for a second. She's standing in the doorway. The roof of the building begins to cave in and she's still standing there, watching me go. She needs to run! _No Laura, she's a vampire, don't worry about her._ I pedal faster, and have to swerve suddenly to avoid a gaping hole in the road that wasn't there earlier. **3.** Random unexpected chasms. This is really bad. Perry and LaF must be worrying about me back at the base. Perry is a professional worrier, and I don't want to give her a heart attack by being late. It's only a short ride, but the ground is rattling beneath my tires and the sky is darkening above me. _Come on Laura, faster._ I have to focus on keeping myself alive but I can't help thinking about the dark eyed vampire.

_I hope she's ok._


	2. Spilt Milk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, they have to venture outside for supplies, and face many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such Danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have motherly fussing, supernatural denial, cocoa, and a knock at the door.

The tremors aren't showing any sign of stopping as I race down the pathway, my tires slip-sliding over the frozen mud. Flakes of snow are swirling manically around my face and rushing into my eyes, blinding me. I have to dismount suddenly as a tree comes crashing down right in front of me, hauling the bike over the trunk and throwing myself after it.  _This is bad, this is seriously bad._  Then I'm finally in the clearing, and I heave aside the rock covering the hatch that means home. Four short knocks, a pause and then another two, and then the hatch flies open with a groan and a shriek of "Laura!" I pass the bike down into one pair of hands, then grasp the other pair and jump down into the bunker. As soon as the hatch slams above me I can relax. I am safe. Then Perry's hands are on my icy cheeks, and her wide eyes are examining every inch of me. "Are you hurt? Are you OK Laura? There's an earthquake going on!" LaFontaine stands behind her, grinning. 

"I think she's figured that bit out, Perr. Give the girl some space." Perry blinks once, then releases my face and steps back, though only a little bit. 

"Take your coat off, sweetie. LaFontaine got the heaters going so it'll be nice and toasty in here soon." She's already undoing the zip and tugging at my scarf, so I let her take them off me. Fussing over people is her way of relaxing, I think, and right now she's so tense you could break a brick on her shoulders. As I lean down to unlace my boots, the scent of decay whacks me in the face again. There's rotten fruit sludge splattered halfway up my jeans, and there's a chunk of what I hope is just carrot wedged between my sock and my ankle.  _Ugh_.  I am never eating organic again. I don't even have to look up to know that Perry is reaching for detergent and a cloth. 

LaFontaine wrinkles their nose. "Eugh, Laura. What did you do? I thought you were allergic to fruit." 

"I didn't do it on purpose. I had to run." 

"Well, yeah. Number seven, earthquakes." 

"No. Number four, actually." 

Perry freezes halfway to the sink, and I can see her twitch slightly. LaFontaine's face drops. 

"Vampire." 

Perry let's out a shaky, unnaturally high laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. There aren't actually vampires out there. The cold is making you a little crazy, I think. I'll make you some cocoa, ok?" She darts into the kitchenette before I can say anything. LaFontaine watches her go, then turns back to me. 

"Are you sure?" 

"Positive. I saw fangs, LaF."  I shake the snow out of my hair. 

"You were that close?!" 

"She must have followed me into the supermarket. I was getting some soda and then she just appeared at the end of the aisle." 

"What did she look like?" 

_ Really good. _

"Um, like, just a girl, to be honest. She had dark hair, dark eyes, leather pants...and no jumper! That's what got me, you know? Like, I'm standing there layered up like a russian doll and she's in short sleeves!" 

"Perry would go nuclear on her." At this point Perry comes back into the main room with two steaming mugs of cocoa and a manic smile on her face. 

"Nuclear? What about it?" 

"Oh, nothing. I was just asking Laura what she brought back." 

What I...OH.  _Oh no_.

"Laura, where's your backpack?" 

"Uh..." 

LaFontaine groans and Perry lets out a squeak. She hands a mug to each of us, then takes a deep breath. "Well, I'm sure we've got plenty of food left for today. We can go out tomorrow and get your rucksack." 

"That's the thing, Perry. The supermarket sort of...collapsed." Her eyes widen, and you can see her brain going into meltdown. LaFontaine hands their cocoa back. 

"You need this more than I do, Perr. Go and sit down, Laura and I will deal with this." Perry gives a stiff nod and goes to the makeshift lounge area in the corner. 

"So." 

"Vampires, Laura. I wasn't even serious when I put them on the list." 

"Well, it’s serious now. I think? I mean, she didn't try and bite me or anything. She tried to dance with me, actually..." I can still hear the waltz, still see her drifting down the aisle, eyes locked on mine.  _Yes, you may have this dance. _

"Dance? Is that some kind of weird hunting ritual?" 

"I have no idea." 

"Perry's going to go nuts. Can you imagine a vampire trying to dance with her?" 

"She'd be torn between politely turning them down and pepper spraying the hell out of them." 

"I'd love to see that." 

LaFontaine smiles over at Perry, who is clutching her cocoa in one hand and picking fluff off the sofa with the other. "We're going to have to do something about food though." 

"Oh crap, I'm sorry about that. I wasn't exactly thinking straight, what with the..." and suddenly I'm cut off by a loud banging on the hatch. There's the sound of breaking china and a hiss from Perry as she drops her cocoa on the concrete floor.

"Don't worry about me! I'll just get a cloth and wipe it up" she trills as she steps neatly over the smashed crockery, cocoa stains down the front of her grey turtleneck. LaFontaine is staring at the hatch. 

"What was that?" 

"Visitors?" 

"It's not Danny or the Zeta's. They know the knock." 

"A branch?"

There it is again, three loud raps on the hatch, like someone striking their heel against it. 

"That's not a branch, Laura." 

I have an idea of what it might be, and I don't know if I'd rather be right or wrong. 

"You get it."

"Nuh-uh. You want to be a journalist, go investigate."

"LaF!" But they've already joined Perry, peering out from the kitchenette doorway. 

"Is that a rolling pin, Perr?" 

"...Yes." 

"Have you got another one?" 

I pull the bear spray out of my pocket and slowly approach the hatch. Another sharp rap makes all three of us jump. With a panicked look back towards LaFontaine and Perry, I reach the handle, turn it clockwise, and push the trapdoor up an inch. The low rumble we could hear inside the shelter increases, and I can feel the vibrations through the metal. A rush of icy air and snow hits me right between the eyes, and I'm blinded for a second. Then, my vision clears.

I can see a pair of black lace ups, and above them a pair of leather-clad ankles. 

I drop the hatch again with a squeak. 

_ "Vampire!" _

"There's no such thing as..."

"Shhh, Perr. Are you sure, Laura?"

"Too sure. It's the girl from the supermarket."

"What does she want?"

"How am I supposed to know? We didn't exactly have a friendly chat before."

"Well, ask her." 

With a frustrated sigh, I grip my bear spray and push the hatch up again. I'm met with a pair of piercing black eyes, startlingly close to my face. 

"Um, hi?" I have to yell to be heard over the sound of falling trees and glacial winds screaming through the clearing. 

"Hi there, cutie." 

"Uh...what do you want?" 

She raises her eyebrow a fraction and leans back. 

"You left your rucksack behind." She reaches behind her, and there it is, still stuffed with food. I grab the strap and tug it into the bunker. 

"Thanks for bringing it back...um..."

"Carmilla ." 

"Thank you...Carmilla. Well, bye!" and I let the hatch drop back into place. Turning with a confused half-smile, I lift the bag up to show the others. "She brought my rucksack back." LaFontaine lowers the spatula they'd been brandishing.

"Oh. That's very...kind of her."

"I know right? It doesn't seem very vampire-y."

Perry coughs, straightens her jumper and comes out of the kitchenette. "Is she alright out there?" 

LaFontaine raises their eyebrows. "You're worried about a vampire?" 

"Whatever she is, she's standing outside in below zero weather, in the middle of an earthquake, and she brought Laura's rucksack back. Don't you think she deserves more than 'thank you'?"  LaFontaine considers, then nods slowly.  


"Perry's right, Laura. If she wanted to suck someone's blood, you wouldn't be here right now. Just saying." 

"Thanks for that image, LaF. What do you want me to do? Invite her in?"

"Well, yeah, I guess so." 

"Fine." I shove the hatch up all the way. She's still standing there, one hand resting casually on her hip. "Are you alright out there?" 

"It is a little breezy out here, cupcake" she drawls as a branch the size of a small person goes flying past her head. 

"Do you want to come in?"

"Don't mind if I do." I step back, and she crouches down, dropping into the bunker with more grace than I could ever manage. She brushes the snow out of her hair, and looks instantly perfect again. "You've got a...cozy little place down here." 

"We try to make it as homely as possible, seeing as how we spend most of our time here. I like it." I'm defending a concrete bunker, apparently. She's making me uncomfortable, at least, that's what I think it is. 

Perry rushes up to the vampire girl- Carmilla, whatever- and grasps her bare arms. "Where's your coat? You must be freezing! LaFontaine, turn the heaters up! Do you want some cocoa? I'll make you some cocoa." She bustles back into the kitchenette with new purpose, leaving the vampire and I alone under the hatch.

She's watching me. I can sense her gaze on the side of my face. I should say something to break the awkward silence. 

"I'm sorry about the whole cola can thing." She lets out a laugh. 

"Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I don't bruise easily." 

"Right, cause you're a..."

"Vampire, cutie."

"Yes. That." 

"What gave it away? Was it these?" She smirks and taps a fang with her index finger. 

"Um, yes, actually. I thought you were going to bite me."

"Bite you? What would be the fun in that?" I'm slightly bewildered by this- I mean, of course getting bitten wouldn't be fun, right? I'm saved by Perry coming back into the main room and pushing a mug of fresh cocoa into the vampire's hand, LaFontaine following behind. 

"Drink up, it'll warm you through in no time. Here, come and sit down, tell us about yourself. What did you say your name was?  Do you want a blanket?" 

"Thanks. It's Carmilla. No, I'm good with just cocoa." The three of them take a seat on the mismatched sofas. LaFontaine shoots me a questioning look.

"Aren't you going to join us, Laura?" The vampire looks at me with a gentle smirk curling one corner of her mouth. 

"Don't you want to hear my story, cutie? It's a real thriller." She pats the seat beside her. I sit down in the armchair opposite. She puts her hand back in her lap. 

She's beautiful, she's dangerous, and she's sitting in our bunker drinking my cocoa. Even in the midst of an apocalypse,  _she's the thing making my heart beat the fastest _ . 


	3. Story Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have back-stories, casual admissions of stalking, and a surprising invitation.

"I was born in 1680. Let's start with that."

_ That's one hell of an age gap.  _

"And we all know I'm a vampire." Perry looks pained, and LaFontaine pats her shoulder comfortingly. "I was raised by my mother- not my birth mother- the mother I knew after death. She's old, far older than I am, and more powerful than I will ever be. We traveled all over the world, attending grand balls and watching history unfold before us. I guess you could say that death gave me a new lease of life." She laughs softly, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes. "It wasn't all dances and fairytales, though. Maman made me do things, terrible things." She pauses for a second, her brow furrowing almost imperceptibly. She decides something, then shrugs. "Long story short, I left. It took me more than three hundred years to cut those apron strings, but here I am." 

LaFontaine is enthralled, the science part of their brain going into overdrive with all this new information. Perry is still processing the whole supernatural creature thing. I'm wondering what the 'terrible things' were. I know better than to ask. LaFontaine shifts so they're leaning slightly against Perry. "So what are you doing wandering around in the middle of this ice-age apocalypse thing?" 

"Not much. Hiking in the mountains, grappling with wolves..." LaFontaine gives me a meaningful look \- that's number five on The List. "And then I saw Laura here out on her bike."

"This morning?" 

"Last week." She says it casually. 

"Have you been stalking me??" 

"I'm not a predator, sweetheart. I was just watching what you did. It's not exactly idea cycling weather out there. I hadn't seen anyone in weeks, and I thought you might be on your own too."

"Well, I'm not."

"Clearly." She shoots a look at the other two. They shift uncomfortably. "Anyway, I saw you this morning, and I thought it might be time to introduce myself."

"You've got a strange way of doing it." 

"You threw a soda can at me, cutie. "

"I said I was sorry!" 

LaFontaine attempts to break the tension with an awkward laugh. "Sounds like you two hit it off right away. Hit it off? Right?" No one else laughs. Carmilla looks at me. 

"So what's your story? What brings you three to this cozy little pit?" 

"It's a bunker."

"Sure. Bunker." 

"We were all students at Silas U. You know, up in the mountains?"

"I've heard of it."

"Perry was my floor don, LaFontaine was..."

"...an unofficial co-floor don?" Sure, if that means following Perry around 24/7. 

"When the earthquakes started, nobody took much notice. I mean, the weird that is Silas U sort of got us used to minor natural disasters. But then the snow storms started, and holes started opening up all over the place...then we had a visit from an ice-beast." All three of us shiver. "And that wasn't normal at all. There was a mad scramble for buses and planes out of there, and not everyone found a seat. Once they left, that was it. LaF and Perry were busy organizing everyone else..."

"It's our duty as floor dons to make sure everyone is safe " Perry interjects with a righteous nod. 

"...and I was..."

"Recording everything for her journalism project."

"Right, thanks LaF. I thought people would need to know what was happening, keep a record, for posterity, you know?" Carmilla  barely stifles a laugh. "It's important. Anyway, everyone who was left behind had to go out and find safe places to hide from the chaos. We found this place." LaFontaine coughs. 

"Actually, I found it. I'd been reading up on Styria's history, and it turns out there are loads of creepy underground tunnels, secret bunkers, that sort of thing. They're supposedly left over from the war, though some accounts reference hiding from murderous beasts. Whichever, it works for us. Perry and I practically had to drag Laura away from her camera, out of the university and down here with us."

"I'm very dedicated to my cause. But yes, I probably did need rescuing. Silas is nothing but a pile of icy rubble now. With the power out I can't record anything anyway. We're cooking on a camping stove and boiling snow for drinking water. It's not a four star hotel, but it's our home for now." 

Perry straightens out the cushion beside her. "Speaking of home, Carmilla, have you got a place to stay?" The vampire shakes her head.

"Not really, no. I've been sleeping in abandoned homes, old warehouses, that sort of thing." Perry sits up a little straighter. I can tell what she's going to say before she even opens her mouth. 

"You're very welcome to stay with us. We've got a spare bunk, and I'm sure we can make supplies stretch to one more person." There's a pause. LaFontaine gives Perry a confused look. Apparently Perry's inherent instinct for hospitality had trumped her fear of the unknown. By which I mean, she's letting a vampire move in with us. 

"Don't mind if I do. That ok with you, buttercup? " Everyone's eyes turn to me. 

Am I ok with having a vampire move in? If you'd asked me that two weeks ago I would've laughed, said 'No, of course not!' and then probably would have made a garlic garland to hang above my bed. Now? This particular vampire  is making me reconsider. So far she's been pretty decent to me, to be honest. Maybe the waltzing was entirely innocent, though she doesn't exactly look innocent with those leather pants and that perfect eyeliner. If Perry trusts her, I guess I can trust her too. 

"It's fine with me. Welcome to the bunker, Carmilla."

"Thanks, cupcake." She shoots me a disarming smile, and I can't help but smile hesitantly back. 

"Laura, why don't you show Carmilla where her bunk is? And while you're at it, would you mind changing your pants? We don't want to ruin the furniture with rotting fruit, sorry sweetie." 

In among all this story-telling and smiling, I had forgotten two key things: 1- I was still wearing fruit sludge around my ankles, which is a super-sexy look, and 2- The only spare bunk in the shelter is the one directly below mine. 

Which means I'm now roomies with a vampire ,  _and a really hot one too._

_ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise there'll be plenty of Hollstein moments in the next chapter! Thank you for reading :)


	4. Snow Shower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have new roommates, concealed sustenance, a grand tour, and a icy tantrum.

_And then there were four. _

I get up from my armchair, keeping my feet away from Perry's beloved furnishings. We had salvaged most of the things down here from wrecked houses, dragging them through the forest on the rare occasions that the storms let up. It took a while to convince Perry that it wasn't technically stealing, seeing as the owners probably weren't coming back, but once she got into it, it was hard to stop her. You'd have thought we were browsing Pottery Barn, not the aftermath of an earthquake. Still, it means  that the bunker feels  a little more like home, and less like a concrete box. I had only managed to salvage a few things from my dorm room: A backpack full of clothing, a couple of books, and a pillow. 

I gesture to the vampire as I edge around the sofa. "Follow me." She gets up slowly, stretching her long limbs. "It's just through here." I push open the metal door to my bunk room. _Our_ bunk room. "I guess we're roommates now."

"Isn't this my lucky day." Sarcasm not appreciated. Obviously it's sarcasm, right? Right. 

"Well, this is fancy." She leans casually against the door-frame, surveying the room. 

"What did you expect? " The bunks are metal-framed, pushed up against the left wall. Opposite them is a metal desk, a chair, and a mirror nailed to the wall. The beds are made up neatly with flowery quilts and a throw blanket on each. "I think it's quite nice, considering the circumstances. Perry tried really hard to make it comfy for us." She walks over to the bunks and runs her fingers over the covers on the top one.

"It's...cute." 

"The top one's mine, actually." I climb up and sit cross-legged on the bed. She freezes, fingers still touching the covers. "So you can take the bottom one. If that's ok with you?" There's a pause, as she regards the lower bunk. She takes her hand off my bed. 

"Fine. Whatever. Ladders aren't really my style anyway. " 

"You can  change the sheets, if they're not your style either . We've got lots of spares- the storage room looks like the inside of Sears." 

She sits down on her mattress. "They're fine. Last place I slept, I used a tarpaulin for a comforter." 

"Oh." 

We both sit in silence for a moment. I can just see her boots by the bottom of the ladder. 

"So, what do you do for kicks down here?" 

"For kicks? Uh."

"Please tell me there's more to do around here than change sheets and boil snow." 

"I've got a couple of books- are you into reading? Because  some people aren't, you know, I guess they like other things? Like sports. Danny likes sports."

"Danny?" 

"Oh, she was my lit TA back at Silas. We hung out a lot. She was in the Summer Society." 

"Summer Society? What do they do, pick flowers and make each other daisy garlands?" 

"No! It's way cooler than that. It's a social club for girl's athletics. They have this annual Adonis Festival and Hunt, which is awesome, and they're rivals with the Zeta Omega Mu Fraternity, the Zetas. Which is funny now, cause some of them actually live together in the mine tunnels. They come over sometimes, you'll get to meet them. Danny's great, you'll like her." 

"Not as much as you do."

"What?"

"Yes, I like reading, to answer your original question." 

"Oh. Great! Maybe we could share books? Have you got any books? Have you got anything? I mean, you didn't have anything with you when you arrived, but surely you've got, like, some more clothes? Not that all that black would show the stains...Oh! No, I don't mean that you're dirty, I just..."

"Relax, cupcake. I've got some clothes and things stashed in the last place I slept. I'll go back and get it tomorrow." 

"Oh, that's good. Um..."

"What is it?" 

"What do you eat?" 

"What do vampires normally eat?" 

"...Blood." 

"Bingo." 

"Oh. Ah. Um. Ok." 

"Don't worry, cupcake, I'm not about to drain your lifeblood. I've got a stock. I actually put a couple of bags in your-" Carmilla is suddenly cut off by an ear-piercing scream from the kitchenette "….rucksack, which June Cleaver probably just unpacked." 

Lafontaine appears in the doorway. "Um, Carmilla, are those blood sachets yours? Cause Perry found them underneath some butterscotch cookies and she's kind of freaking out." 

Carmilla stands up wearily. "Yeah, they're mine. Sorry." 

"Oh, no need to apologize, I get it, it was just a little unexpected in amongst the sugar-fest." They both look at me. 

"Hey, back off. I've got a bit of a sweet tooth, ok?" 

"You drink soda like other  people drink water. Or, uh, blood, I guess." LaFontaine grins awkwardly at Carmilla. "I better go make sure Perry hasn't bleached all the food." They duck out again. 

There's another silence. This is going great. She's sarcastic, disinterested, and wholly unfriendly. What's worse is how desperately I want to please her. I'm rambling all over the place. 

"So, are you going to give me the rest of the grand tour?" 

"Oh, yes of course. Sorry." I scramble gracelessly down the ladder. "Perry and LaF's room is pretty much the same, just with different colored sheets..." she's raising one perfectly arched eyebrow at me "...so you don't really need to see that. You've seen the living area, and it's probably best to avoid the kitchen right now. How about the bathroom?" 

"Lead the way, cutie." 

We cross the main room, and pass the kitchen doorway, through which I can see LaFontaine giving Perry a shoulder massage. "That door there is the storage room, and this is the bathroom. If you can call it that." I push open the door, revealing a small concrete room with a bucket in the corner and a drain in the middle of the floor. Carmilla looks at me. 

"Seriously?" 

"Yeah...it's the best we can do without proper plumbing." 

"What about...?"

"You have to pee outside, sorry."

"Oh. Right. What's the bucket for?"

"Water. You melt down some snow until it's just hot enough, fill the bucket up, carry it in here and wash. We've got plenty of soaps and that sort of thing." 

"Oh, that's just marvelous." 

"Sorry." 

"I'm sure I'll get used to it." She turns away and heads back towards our room.

"Where are you going?" 

"To read a book, cutie. Is that a crime?"

"Well, I was going to go and fetch some more snow from outside before it gets dark, whilst it's calm out there. Since you're part of our team now, I thought you could help me?"

"...Team?" She wrinkles her nose.  _That's cute. NO, brain, shh. It's annoying.  _

"Yes. Team. Grab some  buckets and get your coat on. Or not, cause apparently you don't feel the cold."

"Something like that." 

"Well, I'm not a supernatural creature, so I've got to layer up." I pull on the jumpers and coat that Perry has neatly folded earlier, and pick up a stack of  buckets. 

"Perry, where's my hat?" 

"It's hanging up by the hatch.  Are you going outside?"

"Yes, we're going to collect some more snow before it gets too dark." 

"Make sure you've got enough clothes on, ok sweetie?" 

"I can barely bend my elbows, is that ok?"

"Perfect!" 

I unlock the hatch and lift it up, wincing at the cold. It's still snowing , though not as harsh as before, and there's a felled tree lying three feet away from the trap door that definitely wasn't there earlier. "After you." Carmilla lifts herself out with perfect poise, and I scramble out after. When I'm upright again, she's just standing there, the bucket dangling from one finger. 

"Come on, get shoveling." 

"What exactly does that entail?" 

"It's not complicated. You just dig the bucket into the snow, fill it up, and then put it by the hatch. When they're all full, we take them into the kitchen and empty them into the big trough."

"Sounds like hard work." 

I start filling my buckets. "You've only got one bucket, for a start. Take a couple of mine." 

When I've filled three, I turn around. She's still standing by the hatch with her single, empty bucket, watching me shoveling snow on my hands and knees . 

"What are you doing?" 

"Watching you. That bobble hat you've got on is adorable, pumpkin." I can feel my cheeks turning red, and it's not because of the cold. 

"Is hard work not your style either?"

"Not particularly." She swings the bucket lazily. 

"It should be. We're a team here. We have to be to survive this, this...whatever this thing is that’s happening to Styria. Being part of a team means working together, pulling your weight to help everyone out. You can’t just swan in here and expect everyone to  work around you. Maybe you're just too aloof and detached to help other people, I don't know. But that's not how we work around here." 

"Oh, go on, tell me how you really feel cutie."  

"I'm trying really hard to make you feel welcome, ok? So is LaFontaine, even Perry, and you've seen what it's doing to her nerves. If you can't be bothered to do one simple thing to be a part of this, then I'm done trying." I throw down my bucket and clamber back into the bunker, slamming the trapdoor after me. 

_ Why is she getting to me so easily? _


	5. Arrabbiata

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have some tears, surprising tenderness, light teasing, and some spicy pasta.

_"I'm done trying."_

I slam the bedroom door behind me too and climb up onto my bunk, lying face-down and breathing heavily. My tears are hot against my frozen cheeks, and they soak into the sunshine colored pillow. I don't know if I'm upset or angry; maybe both. I've managed to hold it together through all this terrible weird, and then this girl appears and breaks me down in just one day. Yet...I still want her to like me, you know? There's something about her that's completely bewildering but totally entrancing, and she's making me nervous but excited at the same time. It's nothing to do with the fangs.

The door opens a crack, but I don't look up.

"Laura?" Oh. It's her.

There's a pause, then a sigh. I hear the door close again, and I assume she's gone, but then the bunk shakes and there's a sudden weight on the mattress beside my head.

"Hey, Laura?"

I make a pathetic sniffling noise instead of answering. She rests her hand hesitantly on my arm.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." _Sure you didn't, with your frozen un-dead heart._ "This is weird for me too, ok? I've been on my own for a while, and maybe I can't play nice with others so well, but I'll try." Is she being _kind_ to me? I didn't expect that. If anything, I expected her to stalk off into the snow storm and never come back after I'd yelled at her. Not that I want that to happen.

Her thumb is gently stroking my arm. "Look at me, cupcake." I let out a deep sigh and turn my tear-streaked face out of the pillow. She's perched awkwardly on the edge of my bed, legs dangling down the ladder. Her face is softer without her trademark smirk. She looks truly concerned.

She brushes a strand of hair from my face. "Oh, sweetheart. Don't cry." I respond with a sob and even more tears. I probably look really gross, and, oh god, I'm embarrassing myself in front of the coolest person I'd ever met.

"Damn it." She swings her legs onto the bed beside me. "What's wrong now?"

I gulp back a sob. "I'm trying really hard to hold it all together, you know? But everything is so messed up! Silas is gone, Styria is frozen over, and I can't get home to see my dad..." I'm dangerously close to breaking out a fresh round of tears.

"Are you close with him?"

"Very. It was the first Christmas I'd ever had without him."

"Damn, I'm sorry cupcake."

"It's not your fault."

"Yeah, but I made you cry. I get the feeling you don't lose your cool like that very often." I shrug.

"Everything's just built up and up and up. Today's been seriously, _seriously_ weird, and I guess it tipped me over the edge. The town is literally falling to pieces, I'm cold all the time, and then you freaked me out in the supermarket..."

She laughs softly. "Sorry about that, cutie. I haven't spoken to anyone in a while. I'm not great at meeting new people."

"You're telling me. You caught me completely by surprise, and then you tried to _waltz_ with me. LaFontaine thought it was some sort of hunting ritual." She laughs again, and hums the same soft tune, one eyebrow raised suggestively.

"And what did you think I was trying to do?"

"Well, you're a vampire. I was a lone girl in a deserted supermarket. I'm ideal prey."

"Ah, naïve provincial girl." I blush. "But prey doesn't normally throw soda cans before it runs away."

"I said I was-"

"Sorry, I know. I'm teasing, cupcake." She brushes a stray tear off my cheek, her thumb lingering a little longer than necessary. She pulls away suddenly, putting her hand in her lap. Oh.

"Why didn't you want to help me out with the snow?"

"I told you. I'm not one for hard work." She grins at me, and I shakily return it. "Maybe I like watching you work." _Um, ok._ What does that even mean?

There's a light knock at the door. "Girls? Are you in there?" It's Perry. "Dinner's ready. Come and get it before it cools down. So, now, please."

Carmilla shakes her head with a half-smile. "That's incredible."

"What?"

"The way your manic dust-buster still keeps home when you're living in a concrete prison."

"She likes to keep things normal. It makes her happy, having everything organized. She's not my 'manic dust-buster anyway; I think she's sort of LaF's."

"Huh. There's an odd couple."

I look at the pair of us crammed on my tiny bunk. "I guess so."

Carmilla swings her legs over the edge and drops gracefully to the floor. I shuffle down the ladder, backwards and without any grace whatsoever. I remember something, and swing round to face Carmilla with a comic frown. "Hey. I thought you said ladders weren't your style."

She looks back at me from the doorway. "Yeah, but if there's a damsel in distress involved..." She turns and walks off into the kitchen.

Was that...is she....? Nah. No. She's just teasing, like before.

I follow her into the kitchen. She's already sitting at the table, opposite LaFontaine. Something smells amazing. "Whoa, Perry! What did you make?" Perry shrugs modestly as she places dishes in front of us. "It's just pasta with tomato sauce. I thought we'd celebrate our new team member." Carmilla lowers her head, but I detect the hint of a smile ghosting her lips. "Oh, Carmilla, you do eat...human food, don't you? As well as, uh, your protein supplement?"

"Yes, I do. I just don't have to."

"Wondeful. Eat up, everyone!"We all pick up our forks and dig in. My tongue starts to buzz after the first mouthful. Perry pauses with her fork halfway back to her plate. "LaFontaine?" They look up, with the most innocent face they can manage. "What did you do to my pasta sauce?"

"I might have put a little chili powder in it. I thought it would warm everyone up!"

"Well...yes. It's nice. Thank you, sweetie." They blush and wave the compliment away. "Oh, and thank you for getting the snow, girls." Perry gestures towards the trough in the corner, which is full of snow. The buckets are neatly stacked up beside it. I look at Carmilla, who is concentrating on her food.

I guess she wanted to help out _the team_ after all.


	6. Honesty Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have candles, cocoa thieves, an unusual pet, and some candid closeness.

I  jerk  awake suddenly, eyes flying open but seeing nothing in the pitch black.  _It's not real, Laura. You're safe. Well, safe as you can be._   I take a few deep breaths until my heart-rate slows down enough and my head clears. 

 What a day this has been, I mean,  _seriously_.  This morning I was cycling to the supermarket, and now there's a vampire asleep underneath me. In the bunk underneath mine, I mean. So, now what? Do we just sit it out ? Assuming it has an end, of course. If it doesn't then we're really screwed.  _Look on the bright side, Laura._   At least I'm not alone. Imagine what it must have been like for  Carmilla , wandering around in the snow on her own, sleeping in strange places...now she's got me. Us. The Team. The Awesome Foursome? It does have a ring to it. I'll suggest it to everyone over breakfast. 

I turn over as quietly as I can in my cocoon of extra jumpers and blankets. I'm wearing three pairs of socks, but my feet are still freezing. When I first  got off the plane in Austria (it wasn't all that long ago, really) I was surprised by the cold, but we are in the mountains after all. I just went shopping for a few more coats and a hot water bottle-it was shaped like a penguin, and I was so pleased with it . I  sort of have to laugh about it now, when I'm lying frozen in a bunker in the middle of an ice-age. I didn't even know what  cold  was then. And I could really do with that hot water bottle right now. 

Ugh. That's it. I'm not going to get to sleep anytime soon. I wriggle out of the blankets and shuffle backwards down the ladder, trying not to slip off in my socks. I can't see the door, but I tiptoe towards the approximate place with my arms outstretched, zombie style. My foot kicks something and I have to stifle a gasp. I reach down and pick up the death-trap. T he fabric is smooth and shiny under my fingers-  Carmilla's  leather pants. Yeah, so she's not the tidiest roommate ever. Perry lent her a pair of yoga pants and one of my shirts to sleep in until she collects her things. Perry's been  doing really well with the whole vampire thing, up until  Carmilla  said she needed to drink some blood. Then  LaF  took Perry into the main room to play a card game. I was intrigued, to be honest. A few days ago I didn't think vampires really existed outside of horror movies (and  _ twilight _ ), and here one was, about to drink blood in front of me. 

"How do you drink it?"

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Well, do you, like, stick a straw in the bag? Like a juice box?" She snorted. I blushed. 

"No, cupcake. I drink it out of a glass, like a civilized person." And that she did. It was really...normal. She could have just been drinking really thick cranberry juice.  

"Where'd you get it from?" 

"What's with the twenty questions?"

"I'm curious."

"I didn't stick up a blood bank, if that's what you're asking."

"I didn’t mean that. So, where then?"

"There's a hospital a few miles east of the main town, or, what's left of a hospital. I just waded into the rubble until I found the refrigerators." I shuddered. "Obviously they weren't working anymore, but the whole second ice-age thing took care of things well enough. Blood travels quite well when it's frozen.  When I wanted to drink some, I'd just warm it over a fire until it was the right temperature...body temperature," she smirked at my barely disguised expression of horror, "and then decant it into a glass, like so." She held up her own glass, and took a sip. "Any more questions?" 

I have  plenty, but she's  given me enough to consider for now. It's so surreal, but looking at all the other things that have happened, it doesn't really seem all that far-fetched anymore. 

I fold the pants up neatly, and, feeling around to my left, I lay them down on the desk. She probably won't appreciate it, but I will on my way back to bed. Finding the door handle, I creep out across the main room and into the kitchen, slightly miscalculating the distance and  whacking my shoulder on the doorframe.  Ouch.  I fumble for the box of matches I know is  there, and strike one. The kitchen is bathed in a gentle orange glow. I light the candles around the room, hissing as the match burns down a little too close to my fingers. We have torches, of course, but they eat up batteries, and with the supermarket nothing but twisted metal and rubble, it's best to conserve what we have. When everything is all lit up, I give a s a tisfied smile and open a cupboard. It's cocoa time. 

A few minutes later,  I walk back into the main room  with my freshly-made  cocoa in one hand and a candle in the other. As I go to sit down, the candle goes out. With a gentle huff, I put my cocoa down on the coffee table and shuffle back into the kitchen, re-light it, and carry it back out. As I go to sit down, the candle illuminates something. Someone. I curse involuntarily, and  Carmilla's  eyebrows fly up as she laughs. I cover my mouth with my hands. 

"You ok there, buttercup?"

" Carmilla ! You scared me!" 

"I can see that. I didn't think you knew any words stronger than 'crap'." 

"I don't normally say things like that, but then I don't normally encounter a vampire sitting in the dark. Can't sleep either?" I take a seat next to her on the sofa, curling my legs up beneath me

"No...vampires fare much better at night, so getting to sleep before dawn can be a challenge." 

"I don’t sleep that well either. I...get nightmares sometimes." 

"Can I ask what they're about?"

"Various things. But recently, they're about snow. Being buried in snow, ton s  of it. It's going in my eyes and  mouth,  freezing my throat so I can't scream. Someone is shoveling it on top of me, and then it all goes black. I usually wake up then." 

"Did that happen tonight?" 

"Yes. It happens most nights. Why, did I disturb you? I don't know if I, like, talk or anything when I'm having nightmares." 

"Your heart was beating out a samba, cupcake."

"You can hear that?" 

"Vampire senses." 

"Ah. I guess that's sort of cool." 

" Mmhm ." She takes a sip from the mug in her hands.  _ Hang on a second- _

"That's _my_ cocoa!" 

"Oh, is it? I just found it on the table." 

"How did you think it got there? Magic?" 

She raises an eyebrow. "It's not impossible." 

I make a show of standing up, sighing, and going back into the kitchen.  Carmilla  follows behind me, still talking sips from my mug. "You make good cocoa, Hollis." 

"Hey, how do you know my surname?" 

"It's written on just about everything you own." Oh, yeah. 

"I don't want people stealing my stuff." I look pointedly at the cocoa in her hands. 

"Who's going to do that? The ginger twins?" 

"Oh, I don't know, maybe some supernatural creature who stalks me in the drinks aisle and drinks my cocoa!" I laugh, teasing, but she looks away. 

"I'm not a creature." 

"Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't realize... "

" S'ok , cutie. Just don't call me that again." 

There's a silence for a few minutes as I  warm up  milk on the camping stove. 

"It hurts a little, that's all. I'm a person. Not an animal." She's looking down into her cocoa. "Sure, I drink blood, I run fast, but we're not that different."

"You run fast?" 

"How do you think I managed to keep up with you and your crazy cycling?" 

"Huh. Yeah." 

She stirs her cocoa with the cinnamon stick.  "Maybe it's best that people are afraid of me. I'm 'dangerous'." 

I put my second mug of cocoa down and sit opposite her. "I'm not afraid of you." 

"You were, though." 

"I didn't know you. But then you were really sweet to me when I lost my temper."

"You're cute when you're angry."  _ Okay. Sure. _

"Maybe I'm a little intimated, that's all." 

"Intimidated? Why?"

"Do you not realize how cool you are? With your disaffected attitude and your leather pants..."

She laughs. "I noticed you folded them up for me." 

"I nearly broke my neck tripping over them. Perhaps we could keep things a little tidier, you know, so I don't kill myself next time I want cocoa after dark." 

"We wouldn't want that to happen." We both take a sip of cocoa. "Hey, Laura? Where do you get the milk from?" 

"Danny and the Zetas have a cow."

"Of course they do."

"Seriously! They found it when they were fleeing an  ice-beast. Kirsch thought it would be hilarious to bring it down to the tunnels and freak Danny out. It turned out very useful, actually. They bring us fresh  milk when they visit. Some of the 'bros' even make butter. "

"They sound...fun." 

"They are." I finish my cocoa and take both mugs to rinse them out in the water Perry boiled earlier. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot." 

"You packed your blood in my backpack when you brought it back to me, right? So does that mean you were intending on staying?" It's dark, but I think she's blushing.

"So mayb e I was,  Lauronica  Mars." 

"Even after I ran away?" 

"I thought you were alone. I was worried about you." 

"...Thanks." 

"No problem." 

"I'm glad you did follow me."

She looks at me. "Why's that?" 

"I wasn't exactly alone, but  LaF  and Perry are a pair, you know? They're best friends, soulmates, whatever. Then there's me. And now, there's you too." 

"More fool me." 

"You're enjoying it secretly,  I can tell. You just wait until we get out Trivial Pursuit."

"Oh, god." 

I check my watch. "It's 3am. We should try and get some sleep before Perry rings the breakfast bell."

"She does  _what_? "

I blow out all the candles but one, which I carry back to our room. As I climb up the ladder, I feel a hand on my shoulder. 

"Switch beds with me?" 

"Why?" 

She closes her eyes for a second. "I get nightmares too, sometimes, about being buried. It's a little claustrophobic down there." 

I drop back to the floor. "Of course we can switch." She smiles gratefully, and I can't help but hug her. She stiffens for a second, then relaxes and hugs me back. 

"Thank you." 

I settle into  the lower bunk. When I lay my head on the pillow, I catch the faintest scent of vanilla and  woodsmoke . "Goodnight,  Carmilla ."

"Goodnight, creampuff." 

I blow the candle out and close my eyes. 

_ She thinks I'm cute when I'm angry.  _


	7. Dairy Queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have the morning bell, a lot of toast, visitors, and a not at all jealous vampire.

I am jolted awake again, but it's not due to nightmares this time. Through eyes heavy with sleep I can see a mop of shiny red curls bobbing around in the doorway. It's Perry, and she's ringing a tiny golden bell _way too loud_.

"Perry...no..."

"Good morning Laura! I hope you slept well. It's time to get out of bed and face the day!"

"No..."

"Come on, rise and shine sweetie! Breakfast is on the table!" Then the curls are gone, and the door closes. I close my eyes for a second, groan, and roll out of the bunk onto unsteady feet.

"Carmilla?" My voice creaks and croaks, and my brain is still sleep-fogged. "You awake up there?" There's no answer from the top bunk. I stand on the bottom step of the ladder to get a better look.

Her face is buried in my yellow pillow, her dark hair scattered across it. I tap her shoulder hesitantly. "Carmilla?" She shifts and makes a sound I can only describe as a growl. "Hey, good morning sleepyhead!" She lifts her face out of the pillow slowly, fixing me with a lethargic glare.

"I didn’t think you were actually serious about the bell."

"Well, yeah. Perry's kind of a morning person."

"She's psychotic."

"Come on, time to get up." She stretches slowly, runs a hand through her hair, then slides off the top bunk, landing on the concrete floor with perfect cat-like grace.

In my shirt and Perry's yoga pants she looks a lot less intimidating, _but no less attractive._

"How do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Roll out of bed looking all perfect, like that."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, cutie." She looks at herself in the mirror and ruffles her hair.

"I mean, you look like you're all ready to go out and party, and I look like I just spent a night underground. Which I did, technically."

"You look fine, cupcake. Maybe if you took a few layers off..." she flicks at the purple jumper I slept in.

"If I took a few layers off I'd be a Laura-flavored popsicle." I open the door and head towards the smell of food wafting from the kitchen. From behind me I hear Carmilla mutter something that sounds like 'my favorite flavor' but that obviously can't be it.

There's a pile of fresh toast on the table, and LaF is making more, toasting slices of bread over the camping stove with a fork. Carmilla sits down a grabs a slice, covering it with strawberry jam.

"Now who's got the sweet tooth?"

She just shrugs and smirks around a mouthful of toast. I make a classic PB&J.

In between mouthfuls, she turns to LaFontaine. "Where'd you get the bread from? All the loaves in the supermarket were growing their own fur coats." LaF raps their knuckles against an untoasted slice; it makes a hollow sound.

"The world is our freezer. Perry had the bright idea of bringing half the store cupboard with us, so we've got some loaves packed in a snow drift outside. Anytime you want toast, you just go outside and dig some up."

Carmilla finishes her slice, brushes a few crumbs from the corner of her mouth, and goes in for another piece. "Brightest idea she's ever had, I'm sure." LaF looks offended and opens their mouth to defend Perry.

"It's alright, LaF. Carmilla experienced the morning bell for the first time." They groan.

"Oh man, I'm sorry. I've told her nobody appreciates that."

"Appreciates what?" Perry enters the kitchen, drying her hair with a towel.

"The morning bell, Perr."

"Oh, that. It got everyone up in time for breakfast though, didn’t it?" She gestures to Carmilla and I sat at the table. "No one wants to miss toast day." Right on cue, there's a knock on the hatch- four short knocks, a pause, and then another two knocks. "Ah! That must be Danny and Kirsch with the milk." I stand up and follow LaF and Perry out of the kitchen; Carmilla stays where she is, chewing through yet another slice of toast.

LaFontaine opens the hatch, and a pair of exceptionally long legs come into view. "Danny! Hey!" I run to hug her, barely coming up to her shoulder.

"Hey, Laura." She looks particularly kick-ass today, in knee-high boots and those orange pants that match her hair.

Kirsch appears behind her. "Hey, bunker crew! What's happening?" He ruffles my hair.

Danny shakes her head at him. "Down, Kirsch. It looks like Laura's only just rolled out of bed."

"Awh, I don't look that bad, do I?"

"You've got crumbs down your front, short stuff." She brushes them off.

Kirsch's eyes light up. "Please tell me it's toast day."

LaF grins. "Sure is, Zeta." He punches the air.

"Sweet!"

Perry bustles around taking coats and hats. Danny, now relieved of her cumbersome ski-jacket, shakes out her long hair. "We brought milk for your cocoa, Laura."

Kirsch cuts in. "It's fresh out of Bluebell this morning!"

Danny screws her nose up. "That's gross, Kirsch. Her name isn't Bluebell anyway. It's Virginia, as in Woolf."

"She prefers Bluebell. I was the one who found her anyway."

"I let you keep her."

"I milk her."

"Okay fine, you win, Dairy Queen." He looks confused, then offended. "Just give them the milk, Kirsch." He retrieves three full glass jars from his backpack, and hands them to Perry.

"That's so kind of you both. Send my thanks back to the rest of the Zetas...and Bluebell."

"One more redhead in here and we'll have an invasion on our hands." Everyone turns to look at Carmilla, who is leaning on the kitchen doorframe casually munching on toast.

"Danny, Kirsch, meet Carmilla. She's a vampire."

" _Vampire!?_ " Danny is immediately in defense mode, hand at her waist where I know she keeps a knife.

LaFontaine steps in just in time to prevent a stabbing. "She's cool, Danny. She's a friend."

Carmilla smirks. "I'm part of the _team_ now."

Danny doesn’t look convinced. "Laura, is she wearing your clothes?"

"The top is mine, the bottoms are Perry's. What does it matter?"

"I don't trust her."

"Why not? She's harmless, Danny. We shared a room all night and she didn't try to bite me once-" I brush my hair away from my neck to show her "see?"

Danny closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "So let me get this straight. You take in a girl, who you know is a vampire, you lend her clothes, give her a bed, and you feed her your toast? In what universe is that 'cool'? You remember your list, right?"

LaF shrugs. "Maybe we need to rethink the list."

Carmilla joins us. "Relax, Xena. I don't want to drink anyone's blood-"

"Yeah, she brought some with her."

"...not yet, anyway." She winks at Danny, who looks like she's about to go nuclear.

"And you're ok with this, Laura? You, with your day-of-the-week bear spray and stranger danger?"

"I trust her." I may be imagining it, but I think Carmilla bumps my shoulder with hers.

"I think you've gone insane, all of you. But right now I want toast." She shoots Carmilla a glare. "I'm watching you, bloodsucker."

"I'm shaking." Carmilla deadpans. Danny brushes past us into the kitchen. Kirsch looks Carmilla up and down as he passes.

"Looking good, undead hottie."

Carmilla fixes him with a death-stare. "Not a chance, frat boy." He puts his hands up in surrender, and follows Danny out.

Carmilla sighs theatrically. "Anyway, I'm heading out." She pulls her boots on.

"Where are you going?"

"To get my bag, obviously."

"Dressed like that?"

"Nobody's going to see me."

"True. Hey, don't let Danny get to you, alright? She'll warm up to you, she's just really protective over us."

"More like over you."

"Exscuse me?"

"She looks at you like you're some sort of fragile treasure. Did you two ever...?"

" _No._ Not really. I mean, there was  _almost_ a thing, and then there wasn't. It wasn't a thing. We wanted different things. No, nothing happened."

"I get it, creampuff. Not a thing."

"I could come with you, if you want?"

"No, stay here. I don't want you getting lost in a snowdrift or falling in a chasm. Try not to give Amazon the wrong idea while I'm gone, ok?"

And with that, she lifts herself out of the bunker and disappears into the snow.

I close the hatch behind her, and pause for a second.

Was she _jealous_? No, she can't be. I mean, we've only known each other for a day.


	8. New Classic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have more toast, waiting anxiety, waltzing, and absolutely no crushes whatsoever.

I join the others in the kitchen; Kirsch has a piece of jam-covered toast in each hand, gesticulating wildly with them as he tells everyone of his latest daring escapade from a mountain goat. Danny is rolling her eyes- she's probably heard this one a few thousand times already. Despite the permanent look of exasperation she gives him, the two of them are actually pretty close. I guess living in close quarters together can turn rivalry into friendship. 

I pull up a chair to sit down, but Danny stands up at the same time. "Can I speak to you a second, Laura?"

"Yes, sure." I follow her back into the main room. "What about?"

"What do you think? Your new best friend, the bloodsucker." 

"She's not my-"

"I know you want to trust everyone, Laura, but seriously? A vampire must be beyond even you." 

"She's more than just her fangs, Danny."

"Oh, really?" 

"She's kind, and sweet, she's funny, she helps out with the chores...she's my friend."

"You've only known her for a day." 

"It feels longer than that." 

"Oh my god, do you have a crush on her??" 

"What?! No! Of course not. I told you, she's my friend." 

"You know, when we were standing out here she barely took her eyes off you." Really? Wow. 

"I didn't notice. It doesn't matter anyway, Danny. I told you, I trust her. I know you're worried about me, but relax, alright. I can take care of myself."

"Fine. I trust you, I trust Perry and LaF to make the right decisions. If you say you're ok, then I guess you're ok. Just do me a favor, Laura. Don't start taking in wolves and ice-beasts as well, just because they seem friendly." 

"Danny!" I shove her shoulder, and she pushed me playfully back. Just like that, we're ok again. 

//

The five of us finish off the mountain of toast in record time, with Kirsch taking most of the share. He and Danny say their goodbyes and leave with a loaf of bread and a pack of cookies each. Perry, LaF and I sit in the lounge area and play card games to pass the time. I can't help but keep glancing back towards the hatch every time I hear a sound. LaFontaine notices.

"Relax Laura, she'll be back soon. It's not like she's gone off to war." I blush furiously. 

"I'm not worried." 

"Sure, crushes on vampires." My cheeks go from pink to flaming scarlet. 

"Hey! I do not have a crush on Carmilla." Obviously. "Danny said that as well. What gives you the impression that I like like her? She's my friend." 

Perry shuffles her cards. "I noticed you two swapped beds last night."

LaFontaine raises their eyebrows. "You surrendered your precious top bunk? Oh man, you're totally head over heels." 

"Guys! Stop it! I don't. Have. A. Crush. On. Carmilla!" 

"Ok, fine. But maybe you should tell that to old seduction eyes." Seduction eyes? What...?

Carmilla doesn't like me that way. Obviously not. We're roommates. She's way too cool and disaffected for me anyway, with her all black, lace, leather...nope. No crush. Not even a tiny one. 

//

It gets dark out. We eat dinner: defrosted leftovers from last night. I keep a portion aside for Carmilla. 

"It's not that unlikely that she's decided to go somewhere else, you know," LaFontaine comments, "she might have found more vampires to join up with." Perry looks appalled at the thought. 

"No, I'm sure she'll come back. I think she's enjoying it here. We've been really hospitable." I smile gratefully at her. 

"I think she is, too. She probably had to travel a long way to get her things." 

LaF and Perry retire to bed. I stay up, sitting on the sofa with a book and cocoa, reading by candlelight. I leave a mug out on the side ready for Carmilla. She has to come back, right? 

She probably had to travel a long way. She runs fast. So maybe it's a really long way away. 

She didn't want me to come with her. To keep me safe, like she said. Not because she was planning on not coming back. 

Oh, hell. What if she doesn't come back? Things go back to normal, I guess. I don't want normal. I want Carmilla back. I don't think I want to have my own room back.  
My mind starts to drift, and my eyelids begin to droop. It's so warm and cozy under all these blankets, with the heater on...

I am woken, suddenly, by a knock at the hatch. Four short knocks, a pause, then another two. I let out a huge sigh of relief, and scramble out of my blanket nest. I fling the trapdoor open, and there she is, covered in snow and smiling at me. "Hey, cupcake." 

I lean against the wall, casually. "Hey, Carmilla." She drops down, carrying three bags. "What have you been up to?" 

She brushes the snow out of her hair. She's changed out of the clothes she was wearing this morning; now she's in thigh-highs, black shorts and a black and cream shirt. Totally weather-inappropriate, of course, but she doesn't half look good in it. 

"I picked up my things from the warehouse, then I thought I'd have a look around some of the houses in the area. I found a few things I thought might interest you." 

"You broke in and stole things from people's houses?"

"It's not stealing if no one lives there, cutie." 

"Ok, fine. What did you get?" 

She crouches down and opens one of the bags, lifting out a large rectangular box. She places it on the coffee table, then pulls out a couple of large cardboard sleeves. "Records."  
"You got a record player?" 

"Sure did, buttercup. I used to have one of these." She lifts the lid of the player and smiles nostalgically. "Nothing beats the quality of a good record. Not any of your modern music. This is just something else." 

I pick up a record from the pile. "Vienna Blood Waltz." 

She smirks. "I thought we could finally have that waltz we started in the supermarket. The title is rather appropriate, don't you think?" 

"Um. I don't actually know how to waltz." 

She carefully removes the record from its sleeve and places it on the turntable. "I'll teach you. I was quite the waltzer, back in the 1690's. It was what people did at parties, rather than get embarrassingly drunk and listen to trance music like they do now. I liked it, it was more...sophisticated. Romantic." She starts the music, and holds her hand out to me. "Ready?" 

I take her hand, and she laces her fingers with mine, using the other hand to pull my waist in close to hers. I place my hand hesitantly on her shoulder. She sways gently, and I copy her. "It had a frisson of scandal back then." 

"Why's that?" 

"Two people, standing so close to each other...all that whirling..." she spins me out gently, and pulls me back in again so we're chest to chest, her hand tucked securely at my lower back. "See?" The candles flicker delicately around us as we spin slowly round the floor. The light reflects in her dark eyes, giving them a deep golden glow. She's never looked more beautiful. I almost tell her so, but my brain can't communicate with my mouth when she's moving me like that. There's a soft smile playing at the corners of her mouth as she watches me. "You're a natural." She strokes her thumb against mine. She was right- this is romantic.  
I'm about to say something, but then I let out a yawn. _No! Damn it, Laura, way to kill a moment._ She stops dancing, but doesn't let go of my hand. "You're tired, sweetheart. You should go to bed." I sigh. 

"I guess." 

"We can do this again sometimes, if you liked it?" She watches for my reaction. 

"I'd love to. It was...perfect. You know, I wouldn't mind if parties were like that now." 

"We don't need other people to waltz." She smiles conspiratorially. "Now go to sleep, cupcake, before you collapse on me." 

"Goodnight, Carmilla." She slowly uncurls her fingers from mine, and I head to the bedroom. She turns off the record player, but I can still hear her humming the waltz behind me. 

"Goodnight, Laura."


	9. Tröpflein Rosenrot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have nightmares, tragic back-stories and an old German lullaby.

_Everything is cold. Everything is white. Everything is snow. I don't know which way is up, and the icy weight all around me is getting heavier and heavier. There is snow in my eyes, in my ears, down my throat, freezing my vocal cords so I cannot scream. I try to move my arms to dig myself out, or kick my legs to get attention, but they are pinned down. I gasp for air, but instead of oxygen I breathe in snow flakes. I'm drowning in snow. The ice-age is in my lungs and it's killing me. The frosty pounding in my head reminds me of the ice-cream headaches I'd get eating cones on the beach with Dad, but then it deepens and clouds my thoughts so I can't remember anymore. Will he know I'm dead? Does he think I'm dead already? Why isn't anyone helping me? The weight on my chest is almost too much to bear, and my vision is getting darker. I can't fight it much longer. My eyes flutter shut against my will, and the thought of surrendering the cold is getting more appealing by the second, but then a cold hand grasps mine and -"Laura!_ Laura, Laura, Laura. You're dreaming. You're ok." _Carmilla._

I sit up, gasping as precious air fills my lungs. 

"It's ok, you're safe." Carmilla is crouched by the bed, holding my hand and looking intently at me. "Breathe slowly. You're going to make yourself pass out." She put her hand gently on my back and rubs it rhythmically, and I breathe in time with it. 

"Better?" I nod, but I'm still shaking. "Was it the nightmare? The snow one?" 

"Mmhm."

"Just breathe for a minute, ok." She strokes my hand with her thumb; I inhale and exhale until the spots stop swimming in front of my eyes. That was awful, the worst I've ever had it. 

She brushes the hair off my forehead and smiles wryly. "I guess the bottom bunk isn't much good for either of us. You take the top one back and I'll sleep on the floor, ok?" 

"I don't think I can sleep. Not after that. You sleep, I'll read or something." 

"What, and leave you alone with your thoughts? I'm not a total monster. Here, come and sit up there with me." She climbs back up to her bunk, and puts her hand out for me. I take it, and she pulls me up beside her. She's got my yellow pillow again, but I don't comment on it. 

"That must be one hell of a dream." 

"Did I wake you up? I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. Your heart rate shot up so fast I'm sure every vampire within a hundred yards heard." I must look alarmed because she stifles a laugh and pats my shoulder. "I'm teasing, cupcake." 

"Oh. Good." 

"Does this happen a lot?" 

"It's more of a recent thing. I used to get the occasional nightmare as a kid, but my mom was always there, and then when she...wasn't, I sort of got myself out of it. I guess now that I'm so far away from my Dad, and with all this snow everywhere, it's got into my head and I can't get it out anymore." 

"Is it just you and your Dad at home?"

"Yes. My mom...she died when I was still a kid." 

"I'm sorry, sweetheart." 

"No, it's ok. Dad and I make a good pair, the two of us together. I'm worried about him worrying about me, you know? Like, he left me at the airport, and the last he saw was me waving as I went through the barriers. I have no idea what he knows, if he knows the university is destroyed, if he knows I'm still alive..." 

"The important thing is that you _are_ alive. This...thing, it won't last forever. You'll see your dad again, and you can bake cookies together again or whatever." It's funny how she feels the need to add something sarcastic on the end of every sweet thing she says, like she's worried I'll think she's a truly kind person. She is, though. 

"Carmilla...you said you had nightmares about being buried too. What happens in yours?" 

She purses her lips for a second, considering. "You sure you want in on this, cupcake? I don't want to add to your nightmare material." 

"I can handle it. I told you mine. A nightmare shared is a nightmare halved, right? Sort of?"

"Ok, fine. I guess I'm going to have to elaborate on my tragic backstory, huh." She closes her eyes, frowns, then looks at me. "I told you about Maman, right?"

"Your after-death mom?"

"Sure, that. She had this...secret ritual going on. She took girls, young girls, and spirited them away. It happened every twenty years. I helped her. I'm not proud of it."

"Where did you take them?" 

"I don't know. She found me a girl, I'd befriend her, get to know her...and when the time was right, I'd hand her over to Maman. I never saw them again."

"Was that hard for you?"

"I did what I had to do. I knew how it was going to end, so I never got too attached. Until I met Ell. She was different. I didn't want to let her go." She pauses, looking down into her lap. I take her hand and squeeze it gently. 

"What did you do?"

"I decided to run, and take her with me. I had everything packed. I went back for her, but Maman got to her first. I hid my true nature from her so carefully, but Maman told her. She saw me for the monster I truly was. Then she was taken from me too. Maman locked me in a coffin for my disobedience. She filled it with blood so I wouldn't expire. I was drowning in it, but I wouldn't die. She was cruel even with that small mercy. She buried me underground and so I stayed there for decades, until the great war set me free. She found me again in Paris, and the game started up again. It was modern, but it was the same thing. So many girls going missing. Eventually I ran away again, this time without anybody I could let down. I figured the middle of an apocalypse was the best place to hide. Then, of course, I found you and the dimwit squad. You know the rest. So there you have it, sweetheart."

"Oh. _Oh, Carmilla._ "

"I told you it was dark stuff." 

"So that's what your nightmares are about." 

"Yeah. Coffin full of blood." 

"And I'm terrified of _snow_." 

"It's all relative, cupcake. Everyone has their own snowdrift." 

We sit together in silence for a moment, holding hands in the dark. She brushes it all off like it's nothing, but she's the bravest person I've ever met. 

"When I was a child, and I had a nightmare, my mother-my birth mother- would brush my hair and sing to me until I was ready to sleep again." 

"Your mother sounds lovely." 

"She was." A pause. "...I could do that for you, if you want?" 

"I'd like that." She slides of the bed, picks up my hairbrush, and climbs back up again, sitting behind me. She gathers my hair over my shoulders and begins to brush it softly, one hand braced gently against my neck to avoid hurting me. I lean back against her, and she begins to sing quietly, in German. Her voice is low and husky, and surprisingly beautiful. 

_I_ _ch hab die Nacht geträumet_

_wohl einen schweren Traum,_

_es wuchs in meinem Garten_

_ein Rosmarienbaum._

_Ein Kirchhof war der Garten,_

_das Blumenbeet ein Grab,_

_und von dem grünen Baume_

_fiel Kron und Blüte ab._

_Die Blüten tät ich sammeln_

_in einem goldnen Krug,_

_der fiel mir aus den Händen,_

_dass er in Stücke schlug._

_Draus sah ich Perlen rinnen_

_und Tröpflein rosenrot:_

_Was mag der Traum bedeuten?_

_Ach Liebster, bist du tot?_

By the time she finishes the last line, my hair is tangle-free and I'm in a state of total bliss. She leans back against the pillow, keeping my head against her shoulder, and tucks the blankets in around us. My eyes close, and I start to drift off to sleep. 

"Hey, Carm?"

"Creampuff?" 

"You're not a monster." 

I hear her breathe in, and then she places a kiss on the top of my head, her hair against my cheek. I can smell vanilla and woodsmoke again, and I feel totally safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enough cute for you yet? ;)


	10. Autumn Ablaze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have a peaceful morning, an inappropriate note, a spontaneous walk, and the perfect sunset.

"Hey, Laura?"

I blink slowly awake, her voice pulling me back to reality. "Carm?" 

"Good morning, creampuff. Sleep ok?" 

My head is buried in her chest, one arm wrapped around her waist. I remove it quickly, blushing. "Sorry." 

The corners of her mouth turn up in amusement. "No need to apologize."

I sit up and stretch. "What time is it?" 

"About eleven." I bolt upright in alarm.

"What??"

"Eleven. The hour after ten and before twelve." 

"Yes, I know. How come Perry didn't...?"

"She tried to. I told her you were tired, and she should let you sleep." 

"Oh. So she saw...?" I look at the lack of space beween us both, crammed into the top bunk. 

"Saw what, cupcake?" There's a glimmer in her eyes and she raises an eyebrow.

"Us."

"She saw you asleep on my chest, yes."

"Huh." It's going to be fun explaining that one to LaF later. 

"You know you talk in your sleep?" 

"Oops. Ugh, what did I say?" 

"Lots of things...'bike', 'grape soda', 'Carmilla'..." My cheeks seem to catch fire. "What were you dreaming about?" 

"Can't remember." I can't, honestly. I climb down off the bunk and change my jumper, actutely aware of Carmilla's eyes on my back. 

"The ginger-twins have gone 'shopping'." 

"Oh. I guess that's good." 

"I thought we could go out, too." 

"Where?" I wrestle a pair of jeans over the pair of yoga pants I'm already wearing. 

"For a walk. In the mountains?"

"The mountains? Didnt you hear Kirsch talking about the goats?" 

"Mountain goats, vampire." I catch her eyes in the mirror and she grins widely, showing off her fangs. 

"Good point. Fine, so we go for a walk in the mountains- oh, but we can't, someone has to be here to let LaF and Perry back in."

"Then prop the hatch open with a rock or something."

"It'll let the snow in."

"Cover it with a tarpaulin?"

"I don't think we have one."

"Use one of the many bedsheet sets June Cleaver hoards then. Look, I just want to get out for a bit, ok? We've been cooped up down here for ages."

"You'll have to go on your own."

She slides off the bunk and stands beside me, placing a hand on my arm. "I want you to come with me." 

It's that easy, apparently, to make me abandon all my sensibilities. 

"Ok, fine. I'll come with you. You go get the bedsheets and write a note, I'll get ready."

"Any color preference?"

"Not funny, Carmilla." She leaves the room, laughing to herself. I pull on two more pairs of socks, another jumper, and find my hat under the bed where Carmilla probably kicked it. With my trusty ski coat to finish it off, I'm ready to brave the icy conditions above us. 

"Carm, have you seen my shoes?" I wander out into the main room, where she stands by the coffee table, dangling my hiking boots from one hand and a large white sheet from the other. 

"Here." She puts them down and I jam my many-socked feet into them. "All ready?" 

"I think so. Have you written the note?" She slides a piece of paper over with a smirk. 

 _To whom it may concern,_  
 _I have kidnapped your precious Laura, and am taking her deep into the forest where I will drain her of her blood and turn her into a leather jacket. Just kidding, we've gone for a walk. We'll be back before dinner. Probably._  
 _C + L_

"Oh, hilarious. Perry will read the first line and have a heart attack on the spot." I turn it over. "Give me the pen." She hands it over with a slight scowl. 

_LaF and Perry,_  
 _We have gone for a walk. Sorry about leaving the hatch open. We won't be late._  
 _Love, Laura and Carmilla xx_

"Do you have to put the kisses?"

"I always put kisses." 

"But only on the paper."

"What?"

"Where are you putting the paper?" 

"By the hatch. I don't want them panicking when they can't find us right away." 

"Might loosen Madame Dust-Buster up a bit." I shoot her a look of mock-annoyance.

"Don't be mean, Carm. Let's go." She lifts herself out into the cold, and pulls me up after her. I prop the hatch open with a rock and lay the sheet over the top, packing snow around the edges to hide it a little bit. "Does that look ok?"

"It's a work of art, cupcake." 

We hike along the forest trail, practically knee-deep in snow and braced against the wind. She catches me when my foot gets caught in a snow pile, saving me from landing on my butt and probably breaking something. At one point my hand brushes accidentally against hers, and when I try to pull mine away, embarrassed, she grabs it and links our fingers together- "I don't want you blowing away, cupcake." So we walk together, holding hands and bumping shoulders in companionable silence- well silent as it can be in the middle of a snowstorm. 

After what feels like an age of Carmilla dragging me up the mountain path and laughing every time I get my foot stuck, we finally stop. I catch my breath, then look around. 

We are standing on the peak of the mountain, with Styria spread out below us. Everything glistens with ice and snow. Here, we are above the snowstorms, and the air is clear. More mountains loom above us, and the sun is setting behind them, casting an amber glow across everything. 

"Oh, wow." 

"You like it?"

"I love it." 

"Have you never seen the mountains in the snow? When they're still ablaze with autumn colours, yet muted, not by the night but by a blanket of white? There is wonderment in the quiet moments, empty for the sound of snow falling below." 

"That's beautiful."

"I thought it was appropriate." She runs her thumb over our intertwined fingers. 

"Did you come up here often, when you were alone?"

"Sometimes. It's a good place to think." She turns to face me. The sunset reflects in her eyes. "You know what though? It's more beautiful with you up here with me." 

_Oh. Ohh._ That's not teasing. She's not playing with me anymore. The broody, beautiful vampire is full-on flirting with me, and my heart is threatening to flutter right off this mountain top. 

She takes a step closer to me, and this time, I don't step back. Her eyes are dark and intense, and they drop to my lips, then back up to my eyes, holding my gaze. When she speaks, her voice is low and raspy.

"I don't know what it is about you, Laura, but I don't think I can stop myself anymore."

" _Then don't._ " 

Her grip on my hand tightens for a second, and her face is suddenly oh so close to mine. Her other hand brushes my cheek, and I close my eyes. 

_She kisses me._

She is gentle, the first time. I can taste vanilla and woodsmoke on her lips as they press softly to mine. Her hand cups my cheek, tilting my face up towards hers. When she pulls away, I open my eyes and look at her. Her eyes are bright but hesitant. I smile up at her. My heart rate tells her exactly what she wants to hear. 

She presses her lips to mine a second time. This time is different- the kiss is intense, unravelling all the pent-up tension from the last two days. She lets go of my hand and pulls at my waist, tugging my hips in close to hers. I tangle my fingers in her hair, kissing her back hard. 

When I open my eyes again, she has a glorious smile on her face, and I swear she could almost be blushing. "Well then, creampuff." With the sun setting behind her, I've never seen a more beautiful view. 

And so, the third time is entirely my fault, and entirely perfect. I can feel her smile against my mouth as I kiss her, sweet and soft at first and then more insistent, needing her to know that I really, _really_ want this too. Her fingers stroke the nape of my neck and dig into my hip, her lips chasing mine saying _yes, I know_. 

I'm crushing hard on a vampire, and you know the best part? There's a vampire crushing just as hard on me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enough sparks for you, sweethearts? Stay tuned, there's plenty more to come. If I don't update every day don't be alarmed, it's probably because I've decided to actually write an essay or something. Much love, M x


	11. Speed Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have snow, more snow, frozen projectiles, and an awful lot of running.

We watch the sun set over the mountain range, holding hands in companionable silence. I try to take in everything that just happened. _Carmilla kissed me. I kissed Carmilla._ Wow. So, this was a thing now. I think? I mean, you can't just kiss someone on a mountain peak with a sunset behind you, and expect things to go back to normal, right? Not that things were exactly normal before, lets be honest. _I kissed a vampire_. That's not something I ever saw in my future.

"Carm?"

"Cupcake?"

"You said you couldn't stop yourself _anymore_. So, you wanted to kiss me before?"

She laughs. "Perhaps."

"So, when?"

"Seriously?"

"I'm curious."

"There was that moment in the supermarket...you were wearing that beanie..."

"But that's the first time you saw me."

"What can I say, you were adorable." I turn scarlet and bury my face in my scarf.

"How about when we were waltzing?"

"Why, did you want me to kiss you then?"

"Perhaps." I shrug nonchalantly, playing her at her own game.

"Maybe I would have, if you hadn't yawned in my face."

"Oh. Yeah."

" Besides, if we had kissed then, we wouldn't be standing here now." She gestures to the moonlight mountains, and squeezes my hand. "Would you rather I had kissed you before?"

"When you put it like that...no, this was perfect."

She leans over and kisses me gently, stroking my cheek with her spare hand. "How was that?"

"Also perfect."

"As if it would be anything less." She gives me a confident smile, a little sparkle in her eyes.

Below us, the snow flakes are are swirling in manic spirals. The only light left is the moonlight reflected off the snow-topped peaks.

"We should probably be getting back now. LaF and Perry will be worried."

"Or we could stay up here."

"Without food or water? In this weather? I'm sure you'd be ok, but I don't want to die right now."

"I've got food." She eyes me up and down suggestively.

"Very funny, Carm."

"Ok, fine. Come on then."  
We make our way down the mountainside, Carmilla carrying me down the steepest parts. As we get lower down into the snow, it becomes harder and harder to see things ahead of us.

"Did you bring a torch?"

"Did you tell me to?"

"No."

"Then no, of course not."

"This is a lot stronger than usual, that's all."

"It's fine. We're not that far away."

"I'm worried, Carm."

"What about?"

"...Snowdrifts. Landslides. They're more than likely to happen in this sort of weather, and with the snow piling up on the mountains..."

She stops beside me, and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't get hung up on your nightmares, ok? If you do get buried alive, I'll be there to pull you out."

"Promise?"

"Cross my heart."

The snow is getting closer to my waist than my knees, and walking in it is becoming exhausting. She's at least ten feet ahead of me, striding confidently through. "Carm, I don't think this is normal. Well, normal for what it is. I don't remember the snow being this bad on the way here." The snow flakes are more like snowballs now, and I have to cover my head with my hands to stop myself getting pelted. "This is ridiculous."

She turns to me, about to say something, but is silenced by a snowball the size of her head falling from a tree and hitting her, well, right on the head. It explodes in a shower of white, covering her face and leaving her spluttering. She furiously beats it from her shirt and brushes it out of her eyes, yelling "GODDAMN IT! It's not funny, Laura." Oh, but it is. I help her clear the snow from her hair, laughing.  
"You know, white kinda suits you."

"Oh, ha ha."

She takes my hand and we trudge on against the wind, clinging on to each other to avoid being knocked down. My legs are aching and it hurts to keep my eyes open with the snow battering against my face without letting up. I have to yell to be heard, out-screaming the storm.

"Carm, I can't do this."

"What?"

"I can't do this! I'm exhausted. I can't see, I can't breathe too hard cause I'll choke on the snowflakes-" I splutter as some fly down my throat- "and I'm really, really cold!"

She sighs theatrically, standing there in her knee-highs and short sleeves. "Do you want me to carry you, sweetheart?"

"Oh. Um, no. I'm ok." I'm not a child. I drag myself onward, leaving a laura-shaped trench behind me.

"Hey, Carm?"

"You want a lift?"

"Nope. It's just that I don't recognize this part of the forest."

"Are you doubting my navigation skills, cupcake?"

"Not at all. But it is quite hard to see ahead, and I wouldn't blame you if we were a little bit lost."

"We're not lost."

"If you say so."

She gives me a look. "Stop worrying. You'll give yourself an aneurysm."

Then the hail starts.

It begins suddenly, too suddenly, without the usual slow beginning that warns us to get inside immediately. One second it's just the monster snowflakes, and then there's giant ice projectiles falling way too close to my head, leaving craters in the soft powder around us.

I stop in my tracks, yelling "Carmilla-" but I'm cut off by the hailstone hitting my head, leaving me flat-out on the snow. I land badly, turning my ankle. The pain shoots up my leg, making me cry out. More hailstones batter down on my legs and back. I curl myself up into a ball in a vain attempt to stop the bruising, painfully aware of the twinge in my ankle. "CARMILLA!"

She's beside me in an instant, fending off the hail with one hand and reaching down to me with the other. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

"Now would be a really good time to pick me up and RUN."

So she does, lifting me out of the snow and sprinting through the trees, ducking and swerving to avoid the frozen missiles. I keep my eyes closed, my face buried in her shoulder. I wonder idly if vampires still bruise. I guess we'll find out.  
The wind screams past my head and pulls at our hair, making Carmilla's fly out behind her, cutting through the all-encompassing white with streaks of glossy black.

The suddenly she jolts to a stop, cursing loudly, almost giving me whiplash and reminding me of the pain in my ankle. "What happened?"

"Look."

I lift my head out of her shoulder, and blink against the snow.

Carmilla has stopped right on the very edge of a chasm. It stretches further than I can see, in all directions. One step further, and I'd have more than just a twisted ankle to worry about.

"I did say we were lost."

"Now is really not the time for I-told-you-so's."

"What do we do?"

"Honestly? I have no idea, creampuff."

"Oh, great. So I'm going to die out here in the cold, battered to death by hailstones, and Perry will probably have a heart attack from worrying, leaving LaFontaine all alone in the bunker..."

"You're really overthinking it. You heard the science ginger, there are lots of tunnels under the forest."

"So we just find one and get in it?"

"Exactly."

"And it's that easy?"

"We'll find out."

Then she starts running again, flinging me hard into her shoulder and sending shockwaves up my leg. I squeal and bury my face in her neck, the familiar scent of vanilla corrupted by the cold.

"We passed a clearing a mile or so back, and if it's anything like your bunker, there should be something there."

Five minutes later, she puts me down gently and drops to her knees, digging in the snow with her bare hands. I sit and shiver, screwing up my face in an attempt to un-freeze the muscles.

"Here. I told you so." She smirks, bats away a hailstone and lifts a wooden hatch.

"Huh. Well done." She picks me up and drops me down into it, then follows suit, closing the trapdoor above us. I land horribly on my ankle, and I can't stifle my yelp of pain.

"Damn, Laura, are you hurt?"

"I think I twisted my ankle when that hailstone hit me."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"You had enough to deal with at the time."

"You're an idiot, you know that?" She carefully helps me up, putting a supportive arm around my waist. "If you'd told me, I wouldn't have dropped you on it."

"At least we're safe now. What is this place?"

She feels around on the wall, and hits a switch. The room blinks into light, and I have to squint as my eyes adjust.

"Oh, _wow_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where are they? Any guesses? 
> 
> A little hello to Joan, who had to listen to me planning this last night and was really worried it would be angsty. You can relax now. Until next time, that is. 
> 
> Stay tuned, sweethearts. Love, M x


	12. Divine Grace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have stone saints, painted cherubs, makeshift first-aid, and words instantly regretted.

"What is this place?"

We're standing at the back of a small, rocky cave, illuminated by a single, ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Ahead of us are six rows of seating, carved out of the rock. Right at the front of the room, the ceiling curves up into a deep blue dome, upon which is painted a delicate fresco of cherubs and wild flowers the color of precious stones. There are elaborate figures carved into the walls, stern biblical-looking men and women with smooth, shiny patches on their faces from being touched too often by devoted mortal hands.

"It's a chapel, of sorts." Carmilla runs her fingers over the intricate Garden of Eden mosaic beside the light-switch. "I've seen ones like this in Poland, but I didn't know of any in Austria."

"How come it's underground?"

"The protestant and catholic faiths battled for dominance for centuries, all across Europe. Each time the monarchy changed, the faith of the ruler would be adopted by the country as the national religion. I guess this was created so that other people could practice their own faith in secret." We walk down the aisle between the hand-carved seats, me leaning heavily on her shoulder and limping awkwardly; our footsteps echo up from the marble floor and reverberate off the rock, a gentle step-step-shuffle not unlike a waltz. She sits in the front pew, staring up at the artwork. "It's been renovated more recently though; someone's wired up the chandelier to a self-powered generator, hence the electricity." She gestures to the crystal-covered light. "Carved out of natural rock salt, I think. I would guess that there's running water too, if it has its own power source. The dedication is astounding."

"It's beautiful."

"Isn't it just." She smirks, one eyebrow raised. "Imagine if the clergy had put as much effort into helping the poor as they did into their churches. The world would be quite different today."

"Do you think someone still uses this?"

She frowns. "I don't think so. It feels too cold, too deserted. We'll be safe here." I laugh a little, and she looks at me. "What's so funny?"

"It's just that you're a _vampire_ , taking shelter in a _church_ of all places. Isn't it a bit too, I don't know, 'holy' for you?"

"What, did you think I'd be struck by lightening if I set foot in a church? You don't have to be a believer to appreciate beautiful architecture, cutie." My eyes wander across her cheekbones and down to her jawline- now there's some architecture I can appreciate. A lot. Carmilla catches me looking and smiles, leaning over to tuck a loose strand of hair behind my ear. She places a careful kiss on my cheek, then stands up. "Can I take a look at your injury?" I nod, and she crouches down by my feet.

She gently removes my hiking boot and all three layers of sock, prompting a hiss of pain and revealing the alarmingly purple swelling developing around my ankle. "Took quite the fall huh, cupcake." She grips the hem of her shirt and rips into it, tearing off a good-sized strip of black fabric and revealing even more of her pale, toned stomach in the process. I am briefly distracted from the pain. 

"What is that for?"

"Do you think priests kept bandages in their chambers, just in case?"

"Oh, I get it. Thanks."

She winds the fabric around my ankle, knotting it carefully in place. "Don't put too much weight on it, ok?"

"It's not as if we're going anywhere anytime soon." I sigh, and shift in my seat.

She sits back beside me. "What's wrong?"

"I'm worried about LaF and Perry back at the bunker. I feel terrible for just leaving them that note, without saying goodbye. I really don't want them to think we're dead-or at least, that I'm dead."

"There's not much we can do about that right now."

"I did say we shouldn't go out, but I let you persuade me. Now we're trapped, possibly miles away, and it might be days until we get out of here." She stiffens beside me.

"I thought you said today was 'perfect'." Her voice is low, and deceptively steady.

"Oh god, Carmilla, of course it was. I didn't mean it like that."

"But you'd rather we hadn't gone out?"

"I said I didn't mean it like that!"

"I did try and get us back."

"You got us lost, actually..."

She sits upright, her eyes dark and the expression of offence glaringly obvious on her face. "How about you try navigating in a snow storm? It was difficult enough with you lagging behind me."

"Hey! We can't all have super-speed and be impervious to cold."

"I did offer to carry you, but you declined."

"I'm not a child, Carm."

"Sometimes it's difficult to tell."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Nothing." She puts her head in her hands and sighs theatrically.

"You think I'm childish?"

"Of course I don't." She rakes a hand through her hair. "This is so not how I planned for things to go."

"Oh, so you didn't plan to get snarky with me in an underground chapel? Funny, cause it's working out really well for you now."

"Laura..."

"What, Carmilla?"

"You need to calm down."

"Calm down? I can't calm down. I'm terrified, ok? I'm terrified that I might never see my Dad again, that I'll end up freezing to death in this godforsaken permafrost. I've got friends who worry about me back in the bunker. They saved my life once, and I don't want to let them down. I guess you're just too disaffected to care about that."

"I care about _you_ , Laura." Her eyes are wide, pleading with me. It's not enough.

" _Look at where that got us_." I hear the words as they leave my mouth, and they are cold, dropping from my lips like icicles. I want to take them back instantly, to breathe them back in and say something warm instead- _I care about you too, Carmilla_ \- but it's already too late.

She stands up, fists clenched and her face a mixture of hurt and anger. I have to look away.

"I guess I must have got the wrong idea up on the mountains then. I didn't know you felt that way." Her voice starts off just as cold and steady, but it wavers on the last few words. She steps over my bandaged ankle and paces back up the aisle, head down, curls obscuring her face.

"Carm, don't-" She turns to face me as she reaches the hatch. Something on her cheek catches the light for a brief second, then disappears into the hollow of her jaw.

"You were right. This was a bad idea." Before I can open my mouth to protest, to apologize, she is gone, and the sound of the hatch locking back into place echoes round the cavern, mocking me. _You were right. This is all my fault._

And it is, honestly.

I get anxious and afraid, and I lash out at people I care about. I did it when I was little, when my mom died. I did it when Silas began to crumble around us. I did it just now, when Carmilla was trying to help me. I hurt her. _I made her cry._ I didn't even think vampires could cry. I can feel the icicles twisting inside my chest, reminding me of my harsh words. _**Look where that got us.**_ Yes, do. It got us to the top of the mountain at sunset. It got us here, to this beautiful chapel. I would never have seen it if it wasn't for her. Carmilla caring about me brought my rucksack back, and calmed me down after a nightmare. Brushing my hair, singing to me, that was caring. _How dare I tell her otherwise?_

I am not just terrified because of the storm. The fact that Carmilla can have such a strong pull over me after just a couple of days is scaring me half to death. Hell, she had something over me the moment I first set eyes on her. I am terrified because I don't want to let her go, and I am terrified because I might have done just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You were right to be afraid. Sorry. 
> 
> PiedPepper now you know what I meant by OH MY GOD. Nice guess! 
> 
> Hang in there, darlings. M x


	13. Lost Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have crying in the chapel, heavy guilt, a walk in the forest, and the inevitable nightmare.

_Damn it, Laura. What have you done?_

Now I'm crying too, hands covering my face though there's no one to hide my tears from. I let out a sob, and it echoes round the chamber, too loudly. I silence myself immediately- I do not deserve to be sad. I do not deserve to cry. _This is your fault, Laura._ I brush my tears angrily from my cheeks, and take a deep breath. I need to take stock of things.

1\. I am safe. For now, anyway.  
2\. I am alone. Whose fault is that?  
3\. Carmilla has gone.

But she'll be back, right? Of course she will. She cares about me.

_Yeah, but you screwed that up, didn't you?_

If I mean as much to her as she means to me, she'll come back.

No, that's selfish. That's what got me into this in the first place, being selfish. When someone matters to you, you put them first. God knows, Carmilla matters to me. I've accepted that, embraced it even, though it's totally overwhelming to put so much on one person. A vampire, of all things. She's so much more than that.  
I can still see her standing there, under the hatch. Crying. I should have stood up, said something, run after her, even with this damned twisted ankle. Nobody should be alone in this storm.

I stand up, testing my weight on my busted ankle. _Ouch._ Ok, no running. So, I wait, I guess. _Please come back. Please._

I shuffle over to the wooden door on the far left, and turn the handle. Behind it is a small, sparsely decorated room, with a desk, wardrobe, armchair and bed, all made from dark wood. There is a basin in the corner, and a small mirror above it. I guess this would have been where the priest lived. On the far wall is a fireplace, half-loaded with small logs as if someone had been about to light it. I look behind me quickly, just to be sure that I was alone. Perhaps they had gone out for more wood, and never made it back here. I try not to think too hard about it.

I lower myself onto the bed, and the mattress sinks gently below me. New, then, not one of those medieval straw ones. I yawn, suddenly sleepy. The antique clock on the desk points to midnight. A short nap won't hurt, and I'll leave the door open so that I'll hear when Carm comes back. I settle down, close my eyes, and begin to drift.

I see Carmilla, raising her eyebrows at me in the snow. Carmilla, glancing at me over a mug of cocoa. Carmilla, kneeling beside my bed, eyes wide with concern. Carmilla, gazing at me as we spin around the concrete floor. Carmilla, crying. Leaving. Gone.

I sit up, gasping. "Carmilla?"

Nothing.

I look towards the clock. It's just past 8:30. She's not here.

I should have learnt by now that people don't always come back, no matter how hard you want them to.

No. I can't be defeatist about this. Carmilla isn't dead. She's out there, in the storm, probably feeling just as, no, more upset. I have to make this right. The first time I got angry at her, I ran, and she came after me. This time she ran.

So I go after her.

I swing my legs off the bed and walk back into the chapel, disregarding the pain shooting through my leg from my bound ankle. This sort of pain I can handle. Sitting down hard on the front pew, I shove my bandaged foot into my boot and lace it up, tucking the hem of my jeans over the bandage. Coat zipped up and gloves pulled on, I echo Carmilla's path up the aisle and stand under the hatch for a moment. Don't think, just go.

I unlock the trapdoor and pull myself up, into the swirling stream of snow and ice, into the screaming wind. The moisture on my cheeks freezes instantly, and I feel the ice crack as I crease my face up against the cold. The hail has stopped, thank goodness, but I can see the craters where the stones have pierced the snow. The hatch closes behind me with a thud, and my boots sink into the thick layer of powder. I can't even see her footprints. I choose a direction at random, and start limping through the snow.

I make slow progress through the forest, dragging my aching ankle and stopping every few minutes to look around, catch my breath and yell "Carmilla!" into the wind, in the vain hope that she can hear me. I shouldn't have fallen asleep. She could be miles away by now, over the mountains and too far away for me to reach her. I know I'm only getting myself even more lost, but it doesn't matter. I'd rather be out here, actually doing something, than sitting alone in the chapel moping like a sad puppy.

I stop at the top of a hill, after what feels like hours of walking. I can't ignore the pain anymore; it burns from my ankle upwards like a slow, persistent fire. I put my weight against a tree, take in a deep, shaky breath, and watch as the following exhale curls out from my lips. When I was a kid, I would breathe out into the cold and pretend I was a dragon, blowing smoke from my nostrils and setting fire to the kids who taunted me. Now though, the heat from my lungs does nothing to quell the all-encompassing frost around me. I am just a girl, a stupid, angry, lost girl alone in the forest with no clear plan except _find Carmilla._

 _Keep going, Laura._ I steel myself, and grip a protruding tree branch to begin my descent down the hill. As I plant my foot into the snow, I hear a sickening crack, and suddenly I'm holding onto thin air. My arms pinwheel and my feet slide out from under me, and for a second I am flying, nothing but sparkling white ahead of me. Then I'm plummeting downwards, head first towards the blanket of snow below me. I scream, and close my eyes against the impact.

_Everything is cold. Everything is white. Everything is snow._

I don't know which way is up, and the icy weight all around me is getting heavier and heavier. There is snow in my eyes, in my ears, down my throat, freezing my vocal cords so I cannot scream anymore. I try to move my arms to dig myself out, or kick my legs to get attention, but they are pinned down. If only the burning in my ankle could melt the snow around it. I gasp for air, but instead of oxygen I just pull snow flakes into my lungs. I'm drowning in snow. This ice-age is in my lungs and it's killing me. I feel the familiar ice-cream headache building behind my eyes, clouding my thoughts. The weight on my chest is almost too much to bear, and my vision is getting darker. I can't fight it much longer. My eyelids flutter shut, and my breathing slows, becoming shallow and labored. The cold is in my bones, and my blood is frozen in my veins. It reminds me of Carmilla's little blood pouches, and I smile weakly, remembering. _"Do you, like, stick a straw in the bag? Like a juice box?"_ From somewhere deep inside my subconscious I know I'm losing my grip on reality, but the panic fails to surface. It's almost comforting. _Give in to the cold, Laura. It was always going to happen. It was inevitable. Why not make it easier for yourself? Rest, sleep, dream._ The sound of the wind fades out, and I hear a waltz, humming gently in my ear, and a voice, though it seems so very far away. They say that before you freeze to death, you can have very vivid hallucinations. _Laura, can you hear me? Hang on, it's alright, just hang on. I'm here, you're ok._

_Carmilla?_

_"LAURA!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. It was bound to happen eventually, right? 
> 
> M x


	14. Take Thy Rest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have a promise kept, apologies made, fireside musings, and a poetry recital.

My eyes snap open again, my lashes heavy with snow. I'm not hallucinating. That's her voice, _that's Carmilla's voice._

I cough, and choke out her name through the snow- "Carm?"

"I'm here, cupcake. Hang on, I'm getting you out of there."

She's here. Oh god, I'm not going to die. _I'm not going to die._

There are frantic shuffling noises above me, and I begin to see light through the white blanket. The weight lessens on my chest and I can breathe again. _Oh, god, she's here, I'm ok, she's here._

Then a pair of hands grab mine, and pull me upwards into the light. The first thing I see is her hair, dark against the pale grey sky, before she pulls me in tightly against her chest.

"You're ok, Laura. I've got you."

My chest heaves, and my tears soak into her shirt and freeze there, leaving patches of glittering ice on her shoulder. "Oh, Carmilla." She strokes my hair and holds me tightly, muttering "You're ok, you're safe" over and over.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, _so,_ sorry."

"It's ok, I understand."

_"I'm sorry."_

"Shh, sweetheart. We need to get you back inside." She gathers me up in her arms and I feel the wind rushing past my ears, but I don't look up until I hear the hatch slam and the lights flicker on.

She carries me through to the priest's chamber and puts me down gently on the bed.

"Oh god, you're shivering." She's right. My teeth are chattering together and my muscles shudder uncontrollably, trying to shake the ice from my veins. She gently removes my boots, taking extra care over my bandaged ankle, and sets them down beside the bed. "We need to get these wet clothes off, ok?" I nod, concentrating on not freezing over completely. She carefully removes the damp, icy layers, spreading them out over the furniture, and wraps the blankets around me tightly. Then she crouches down by the fireplace, pokes around at the logs for a minute, strikes a match, and suddenly she has the fire blazing like the ones you see in christmas movies, logs crackling and sparking. It's music to my ears, and I can feel the heat spreading across the room.

She drags the armchair across and positions it in front of the fire, then walks back over to me, sitting down on the bed. 

She says "You're an idiot, you know that?" and shakes her head, but she's smiling, her face a picture of affection. 

"I was trying to find you...you didn't come back." 

"I did, eventually. I thought we could both use some time to cool off. I took a walk, found something to feed off. When I got back to the clearing, I saw your footsteps in the snow.

I'm sorry I left it so long."

"No, I'm sorry. I lost my temper, I said you didn't care...and I know you care."

"And I know that you know. It's a trying time for all of us, cutie, and you're allowed to let it out every once in a while. Perhaps not so personally next time, though." She gives a wry smile and takes my hand. "I'm flattered that you felt the need to come rescue me, though. Even though I had to rescue you in the end."

"I'm sorry, Carm."

"How about we can it with the apologies now, sweetheart. You don't need to be sorry. I'm just glad you're safe. Do me a favour, don't go wandering outside on your own again, ok?"

"Ok."

She pulls me into a tight hug, her fingers digging into my shoulders and her hair against my cheek. "I'm not losing you again."

"You came back for me. I thought I was going to _die_."

"I promised, didn't I?" If you do get buried alive, I'll be there to pull you out.

My shivering has decreased a bit, but I can still feel the cold in my bones. She lifts me carefully, and sits in the armchair beside the fire, holding me on her lap with one arm wrapped around me and the other stroking my hair. "Try and rest for a while, cupcake. I'm not going anywhere." I begin to doze off, the heat from the fire permeating my frozen limbs and thawing me out. Her hand draws slow circles on my back, and I notice something.

"Hey, Carm?"

"Hmm?"

"You're not cold."

"I told you, the weather doesn't really affect me."

"No, I mean, you don't feel cold." I poke a hand out from my blanket cocoon and touch her face. "You're not cold. You feel...alive." She lets out a soft laugh.

"Well, sadly not that. But yeah, I'm not an ice-maiden. Blood warms me up; I'm warmest after a feed."

"Oh."

"It's not very romantic, I know. But it means I can keep you warm."

"It's kind of romantic, in a way. Even if it's not your own blood. At least we don't need to get a werewolf in to warm me up."

"What?"

"You've never read twilight?"

She makes a scoffing sound. "Of course not."

"Huh. So what do you read?"

"Real literature. Dostoevsky, Goethe. Literary theory, gender theory, philosophy. Poetry, all sorts of poetry. Real literature makes your heart bleed, cutie, it makes you want to devour all of it and learn everything you can from it. You learn about yourself, about others. _'That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you're not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong'_."

"Who said that?"

"Fitzgerald."

"He wrote The Great Gatsby, right?"

"Correct. You're not a completely lost case then. Remind me to show you some more good books sometime, when this is all over." When she says it like that, so casually, it's easy to believe her. This will end. 

"Carm?"

"Cupcake?"

"Do you remember any poems?"

"Off by heart?"

"Mmhm."

"A couple. Why?"

"I want to hear it, the real beauty, the heart-bleeding."

"Sure, ok." She shifts beneath me and rests her cheek on my hair.

_"I had a dream, which was not all a dream._  
 _The bright sun was extinguish'd, and the stars_  
 _Did wander darkling in the eternal space,_  
 _Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth_  
 _Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air;_  
 _Morn came and went--and came, and brought no day,_  
 _And men forgot their passions in the dread_  
 _Of this their desolation; and all hearts_  
 _Were chill'd into a selfish prayer for light:_  
 _And they did live by watchfires--and the thrones,_  
 _The palaces of crowned kings--the huts,_  
 _The habitations of all things which dwell,_  
 _Were burnt for beacons; cities were consum'd,_  
 _And men were gather'd round their blazing homes_  
 _To look once more into each other's face;_  
 _Happy were those who dwelt within the eye_  
 _Of the volcanos, and their mountain-torch:_  
 _A fearful hope was all the world contain'd;_  
 _Forests were set on fire--but hour by hour_  
 _They fell and faded--and the crackling trunks_  
 _Extinguish'd with a crash--and all was black..."_

Her voice echoes softly round the room, and the fire crackles gently beside us. My eyes close again, and I bury my face in her hair.

_"They slept on the abyss without a surge--_  
 _The waves were dead; the tides were in their grave,_  
 _The moon, their mistress, had expir'd before;_  
 _The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air,_  
 _And the clouds perish'd; Darkness had no need_  
 _Of aid from them--She was the Universe."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you can relax now.  
> all is ok, for the moment at least :) 
> 
> M x  
> p.s. the poem is 'Darkness' by Lord Byron, if you're interested.


	15. Galanthus Nivalis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, they have to venture outside for supplies, and face many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such Danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have tales of Paris, communion wine, first impressions, and an awful lot of kissing.

Five days pass.

We pay less attention to the time outside, existing in a little bubble of our own, sleeping and waking as we please, enjoying each other's company.  
The storm seems to get worse, if that's even possible. Carmilla ventures outside every so often to feed, and comes back with snow in her hair and a glowing warmth beneath her skin.

The swelling on my ankle goes down, and I begin to put weight on it again, shuffling around the chapel trying to match the saints and sinners in the wall murals with the people in the ancient bible I found beside the pulpit.

We eat the food we find in the tiny kitchen- bags of potato chips and tins of soup, and a pack of chocolate muffins that lasted only ten minutes after Carm found them, dangling them in front of me and smirking: "I've found a little something you might like, cupcake." We eat sitting on the floor at the front of the chapel, and when we're done, we lie on our backs and gaze at the gold-edged fresco above us. Carmilla identifies the wild flowers, naming them in English, German and Latin, and describes how they looked in the fields round the home she grew up in. For a while, I am transported back to Styria in the height of summer, and I forget the cold, hostile world that lies a little further above our heads.

The first evening, as we sit in the front pew together, she leans in to kiss me, and I kiss her back for a minute, then pull away, blushing. She reaches for my hand and says "Something wrong, sweetheart?" her voice low but tinged with concern.

"It's just that, oh my god, Carm. We're in a _church_."

Her eyebrows fly up and she laughs, a low, delicate sound I'm really beginning to love. "What, so you can take the lord's name in vain but you can't kiss a girl in church?"

"Um..."

She traces figure eights on my palm with a fingertip. "Think of all the weddings held in here, cupcake. I bet a lot of kissing went on under this roof." Then she tucks a stray curl behind my ear and places a soft kiss just below it, and whispers "It's one of the most romantic places to kiss someone, if you think about it. It's like making a promise, sealing a covenant between your lips and theirs." Then another kiss, and another, fluttering down my neck. "It says, I promise to keep you for ever and ever, under the eyes of god," her lips touch the hollow of my collar bone and linger there for a second, "and those of the people gathered before us today," more kisses, traveling up to my jaw, "and outside of these walls, until death do us part."

I manage a shaky whisper. "But Carm, we're the only ones here."

Her face is so close to mine, and she mutters into the corner of my mouth, "It doesn't change what this means, though."

Her lips meet mine again in a kiss that makes my breath hitch, and I lean into her, my fingers gripping the lace of her collar with religious fervor. Her tongue traces my bottom lip and her fingers draw patterns on the back of my neck. My lips part to grant her entrance, and she speaks more promises into my mouth than words ever could.

Kissing quickly becomes our favorite pastime, and seeing as there's not much else to do around here, we do it often.

Carmilla finds a stack of books under the bed, some old classics, some religious ones, and reads to me by the fire. More often than not I fall asleep with my head in her lap, whilst she strokes my hair idly and falls silent, finishing the chapter herself. When I wake up, we are almost always in the bed, curled around each other under the blankets with my head on her chest or buried in her hair. She makes me tea or cocoa, and recounts the parts of the book I had missed the night before, adding in her own details and criticisms. One night, after we finish The Picture of Dorian Grey, we lay face to face in the bed, and she tells me about an artist she met whilst in Paris. "He was fascinated by me- not in a romantic way, in a purely artistic way. He wanted to paint me, he wouldn't take no for an answer. In the end, I sat for him for nearly a week in his loft overlooking the Eiffel tower, in a cream silk gown with a ruby hanging at my throat. The picture turned out beautifully, to be truthful. The way he painted me, I looked regal, but softly human. It was a new experience for me, after so many years locked in the coffin, to see myself how somebody else saw me, without any pretense. He'll be in his nineties now, if he's still alive. Imagine, me turning up to surprise him, still looking the same as I did back then."

"You'd probably give him a heart attack."

"True, and we wouldn't want that. I hope he went on to paint other girls, to show them what they looked like in his eyes. He had a beautiful take on the world."

"I'd like to see it, the painting, if it's still there."

"It's in a gallery, I think. I'll take you, one day. We can visit the Louvre, walk along the Seine, visit the catacombs...I did those things when I was there, of course, but it was always missing something, you know? They don't call Paris the city of love for nothing." Then she leans over and kisses me softly, one hand at my waist and the other curling in my hair as her lips press more earnestly against mine. I brush my fingertips along the line of bare skin below the hem of her shirt and pull her closer, the familiar perfume of vanilla and woodsmoke filling my lungs and making my head swim, both comforting and intoxicating. 

We fall asleep like this, as close as we can possible get, my arms thrown around her neck and hers wrapped around my waist, curls of black and golden hair fanned out together on the pillow.

On the fifth evening, I sit in the chapel shuffling cards from the deck I found in the desk drawer. Carmilla had raised an eyebrow at it, remarking on the 'curious ethics of a gambling priest', but agreed to play a few games with me. As it turns out, she can play a mean game of blackjack, and her poker face is second to none, whilst my specialties lie more in the realm of cheat or sevens.

"Hey, cutie. Look what I found." She enters from the kitchen, carrying a dark glass bottle and two glasses.

"Is that...communion wine?"

"Sure is. I thought we could have a little drink with our games, enjoy the evening."

She sits down cross-legged in front of me and places the bottle between us. I eye it suspiciously. "Is it safe to drink?"

She pops the cork and pours the deep burgundy wine into both glasses. "Wine only gets better with age. As do vampires." She hands me my glass with a playful wink, and holds hers up. "To what shall we toast, cupcake?"

"The end of the storm. And absent friends."

"To the end of the storm, and absent friends. To the people who come along when we need them most." She touches her glass to mine with a gentle clink that reverberates around the cavern, and we both take a drink. The wine is surprisingly sweet, with a flavor not unlike the stewed plums my dad makes on special occasions, but with an acidity that catches at the back of my throat and makes me cough a little. Carmilla pats my back with an amused smile, "You'll get used to it."

The card game begins, but is soon abandoned as the wine flows and conversation becomes more important than the numbers in our hands. We lay on the stone floor together, holding hands and exchanging stories from the lives we led before the storm. She tells me of the grand balls she attended, describing the jewel-colored silks and velvets of the gowns, and the idiot antics the young men would get up to in order to impress the girls. "I was never impressed, of course." I giggle like a schoolgirl, the alcohol warming my face and making the seconds pass more slowly. "The Duke of some province or other brought chillies imported from India, and challenged the other men to eat them. So they did, tears streaming down their faces, crying out for wine or milk to quell the burning in their throat. Amateurs, the lot of them. I asked him, oh so innocently, if I could maybe try one? He laughed in my face and told me it was too much for such a fragile little lady to handle, so of course I just had to have one. I picked the hottest one, and oh, you should have seen his face, Laura. I placed it delicately in my mouth, chewed for a minute, swallowed it, shrugged, and went in for another one. Their jaws just about hit the marble. They treated me very differently after that, with a glorious mix of fear and respect. They never called me 'fragile' again either."

"I hit a boy, once."

She snorts. "What, you? Little miss sweet and perfect?"

"I did, actually. I was eleven. We had baseball in phys-ed, and this boy was mocking my friends and I, saying 'girls can't catch', 'girls are weak'. And he was...like...so wrong, you know? Cause I'm not weak. So I squared up to him, said 'catch this' and threw a punch at his face. It hit him right in the nose, and he cried like a baby. My friends applauded. I was marched to the principals office, of course, and they called my dad."

"Did you get in trouble?"

"He said he'd never been more proud of me. He'd always tell that story at parties, saying that he didn't have to worry about guys taking advantage of me, cause I'd kick them in the balls and give them what for."

"I would have loved to see that."

"Yeah, well little me was pretty hardcore."

I shuffle closer and examine her face, my fingertips tracing her cheekbones and the curve of her lips. "You're so, _so_ beautiful, you know?"

"You're so, _so_ drunk, sweetheart."

"I know, but you are. Beautiful, I mean. So beautiful." I place a clumsy kiss on her cheek, and she smiles at me, her eyes reflecting the candlelight from the altar.

"You're beautiful too, Laura." I blush and wrinkle up my nose bashfully.

"You're my favorite, Carm."

"You're mine too."

"Carm?"

"Mmhm?"

"What did you think, when you first saw me?"

"In the supermarket?"

"Yes."

"I thought, 'why does that girl have so many cookies in her bag?'"

I poke her gently in the shoulder. "No, but seriously." 

"I thought you were entrancing. I thought you were some kind of miracle of the storm, an angel in a ski-coat and beanie. That enough for you?"

"Mmm." I think for a second. "I thought you were incredible. Like, you were terrifying, I thought you were going to bite me, but...I wanted to get to know you anyway." 

"We sometimes encounter people, even perfect strangers, who begin to interest us at first sight, somehow suddenly, before a word has been spoken. Dostoevsky wrote that."

"It's so true."

We watch each other for few minutes, hands tracing each others jawlines and exchanging delicate kisses that sometimes miss the other's lips, making us laugh.

"Do you remember the waltz, cupcake? Me and you, in the bunker?"

"Of course I do. It was lovely...perfect. You stole a turntable."

"Do you want to dance with me?"

"Now?"

"Yes." She gets herself upright and puts a hand out, pulling me to my feet. I wobble for a second, and steady myself with my hands at her waist. She begins to hum the melody from the stolen record, and we sway slowly, keeping each other balanced and giggling as I step on her toes. We're far from graceful, but it's perfect again nonetheless. She twirls me out and in again, making my head spin and the world around me blur for a second into shades of gold and black. Then her hands grasp my face, and she kisses me hard, her lips tasting slightly of wine. I kiss back with urgent passion, and she catches my bottom lip between hers, running her thumb along my jawline and twisting her fingers in my hair.

Somewhere in the distance I hear a noise, and then footsteps on marble, but I'm too caught up in Carmilla to properly register it.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any guesses as to who that is?  
> Hope you enjoyed all the cute. I enjoyed writing it.  
> M x


	16. Congregation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, they have to venture outside for supplies, and face many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such Danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have a lot of giggling, a biting hangover, a big reunion, and a plan of action.

Carmilla and I break apart, but her fingers are still tangled in my hair and we wobble unsteadily together.

At the back of the chapel stands Danny, clad in an over-sized ski-coat and hiking boots, with a mix of horror and confusion on her face. Carmilla tries to detach her hands from my hair, and I feel my cheeks turn flaming scarlet.

"Oh, hey Danny..."

"Laura, what the hell?"

"Um..."

Carmilla successfully separates herself from my hair, and grabs my hand instead.

"Amazon."

"Bloodsucker."

"Um, well...we went for a walk, and we, um, kissed on the mountains..." beside me Carmilla smirks and squeezes my hand "and then we went back down the mountains, and then it started hailing, and I twisted my ankle, and Carm got us lost..." she turns to glare at me "I mean, we got lost, and then we found this place."

"Are you drunk?" I try to slide the empty bottles out of view but, with my usual lack of grace, I only succeed in drawing more attention to them. "Oh my god, you're both drunk." I giggle uneasily.

"Maybe a little bit."

"We're waltzing, Xena. Care to join us?" Carmilla hiccups and tries to twirl me around by our clasped hands, but I trip over my own feet and fall into her, laughing. Danny sighs at length and runs a hand through her hair, exasperated.

"We thought you we dead."

"Well, we're not. Surprise!" I fling my arms out, and Carmilla grabs me round the waist before I topple over.

Danny rolls her eyes up to the ceiling. "You know what, I'm not going to deal with you two when you're like this. Go and lie down or something, sleep it off, and I'll go and tell the others to stop searching for your bodies." With one last look of incredulity, she lifts herself out of the hatch and slams it behind her.

I lean my face into Carmilla's neck and laugh, partly amused and partly mortified. "Oops."

"That could have gone better." She kisses my cheek, hiccups, and pulls me over to the priest's chamber. "Come on, creampuff, better do as she says."

I throw myself down on the bed, and bury my face in the pillow. "Do you think she's upset?"

Carmilla lays down beside me and wraps an arm around my waist. "No, I don't think she's upset. I think she's angry and a little bit jealous-" she hiccups, "because she thought you were dead, and all this time you've been down here, drinking and dancing with me."

"Oh." I frown, and she kisses my forehead, smoothing out the wrinkles.

"Don't worry about it, cupcake. We can tell them all about our adventures in the morning."

"I guess she'll be better once she's had a walk in the snow, you know, to cool her off."

Carmilla snorts and pulls me in closer, tucking my head neatly under her chin. "Go to sleep, Laura."

I snuggle in and close my eyes, but something is bothering me.

"Carm?"

"Mmhm?"

"Do we have to tell them about all the kissing?"

"You know what, sweetheart? I don't think they really want to know."

"Oh. Ok." And with that settled, I drift off to sleep, dreaming of grand balls, Parisian artists, and flame-furred wolves running through the snow.

//

I wake some hours later with a dull throbbing in the back of my skull, and a mouthful of Carmilla's hair. I groan, extract the dark curls with a lethargic hand, and sit up, clutching my head. Carmilla stretches, sighs, and sits up beside me.

"Hey, cupcake."

"Urghh."

"Something the matter?"

"Shhh."

She laughs softly and pulls me into her chest, stroking my hair and making gentle soothing noises. "It'll pass. I guess you're not a regular party animal huh."

"How are you not..." I make vague gestures around my head.

"Vampiric constitution trumps hangovers, sweetheart."

I groan and knock my head against her collar bone. "Never drinking again."

"Is that so?"

"Mhrrrr."

She ruffles my hair, then moves to stand up. I cling on to the hem of her shirt. "Heyy..nooo..."

"Come on, creampuff. Everyone's waiting for us." Behind the door, faint sounds of chatter can be heard from the chapel.

"Oh, god." She pulls me upright, and combs out my hair with her fingers.

"You look fine." She leads me by the hand and turns the door handle. "Ready to make an entrance?"

"Mmpf. I guess so."

The door opens, and light streams in, making me blink and stumble back into Carmilla. There's a screech of "Laura!", the sound of running footsteps, and suddenly I'm smothered in a mop of bright red curls. "Laura, sweetie! It's so good to see you! LaFontaine and I were so worried when you didn't come back, we thought you'd frozen to death, or-" she glances at Carmilla, who is standing protectively at my shoulder, "or, um, been eaten by wolves. But you're alive! Although you could do with a good wash, I mean..." LaFontaine cuts in, grinning.

"Give the girl some space, Perr." They lean in and hug me tightly, then they whisper in my ear, "So, you and the vampire, huh?" My cheeks catch fire, and they laugh, waggling their eyebrows suggestively.

I take a moment to survey the chapel. We're clearly not alone now; the pews are filled with members of the Summer Society and a number of Zeta frat bros, all clad in heavy winter wear. At the back of the chapel, there is a large black and white cow, tied up to one of the iron candlesticks. Danny sits at the front beside Kirsch, picking at a piece of wood with her knife. She looks up, and gives me a gentle smile.

"Hey, Laura. How are you feeling?"

"Like crap, to be honest. It feels like my brain is trying to break out of my skull."

Kirsch laughs, and it echoes around the chapel. "You guys had a party without us? Not cool."

Carmilla links her fingers with mine. "It was a private party, sorry frat boy. VIP only."

I notice the absence of bottles and cards that had been spread out on the floor the night before. "Perry, did you..?"

LaFontaine laughs. "Of course she did."

Perry folds her arms defensively. "Well, it was cluttering up the floor, and I thought I'd make myself useful while we waited for you to wake up."

"Thanks. So, um, what are you all doing here?"

"Looking for you, genius." Danny stands up. "You've been gone nearly a week."

"Sorry."

"It's not your fault, I guess. We've been searching the forest bit by bit, and then our tunnels flooded..."

"Flooded?! How?"

"Someone-" she shoots Kirsch a death glare, and he withers in his seat, "left the hatch open and the heaters on when we went out. The snow came in, melted, shorted out the heaters, and froze again. Anything below waist-height is now encased in solid ice."

"Wow. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. And then we tried sharing the bunker with LaF and Perry for a while, but it got a bit crowded with sixteen extra people and only two spare beds. So we left, and LaF had the bright idea of bringing their map of the abandoned tunnels and bunkers under Styria. We've been crashing in those as we find them." 

Perry gestures to the pile of camping rucksacks in the corner. "We brought most of the things from the store cupboard."

"Yeah, Perry couldn't bear to leave her hoard behind." LaFontaine extracts a flowery pillowcase from one of the bags, and Carmilla snorts.

"So, now what?"

"We're leaving."

"What, here?"

"Styria. If LaFontaine's predictions are correct, this godforsaken snow storm has something do do with the weird that is Silas U. Logic would suggest that the further away we get from it, the more likely we are to get out of it."

"Why would the university have anything to do with it? I mean, yeah, it's not exactly, conventional, but it's just a building, right?"

LaFontaine coughs. "Not exactly. The morning you two, uh, disappeared, Perry and I went on a little reconaissance mission. The closer we got to the university, the thicker the snow got. What's left of the building is frozen solid in at least ten feet of pure ice. Anyway, in the very centre of the wreckage, there's this giant pit." 

Perry shudders. "It was like looking into a black hole, except, there was a light at the bottom, a bright, silver light."

Carmilla draws in a sharp breath. "Hala demon."

LaFontaine stares at her. "It's a what?"

"A hala demon. In Serbian folklore, they would talk about demons that could control the weather. In legend, it was necessary to sacrifice half your crop yield to the demon, or your next season would leave you hungry and destitute. It was beneficial to befriend the demon, apparently, though god knows how you'd do that. If you gained their respect, they would shower you with riches and good fortune." She stops suddenly, and gets a faraway look in her eyes.

LaFontaine scribbles everything down in their notebook. "So, the question is, how do we kill it?"

Carmilla snaps out of her haze. "You'd have to be a _zmajeviti_ , for starters."

"A what?"

"Half man, half dragon. Which I doubt any of these bros are." The Zetas negotiate amongst themselves for a second, then collectively shake their heads. "Didn't think so."

"So then what do we do about it?"

"Nothing. We leave. Or we die, whichever."

"Back to the original plan, then." LaFontaine unfurls their tunnel map, and lays it out on the floor. "We have a route planned, to get us across the border and into Slovenia. I've divided it up so we'll be hiking for about three days, with some kind of tunnel or cave to shelter in at night."

"And then what?"

"Assuming we all arrive in one piece, we go home."

 _Home_. I can see my dad again. I squeeze Carmilla's hand, and she smiles at me. "Just what you wanted, cutie."

"So when do we start?"

Danny holds up two huge rucksacks. "Now."

I gather up my winter gear from the priest's room, and bundle myself back up in it. Carmilla yanks the zip up for me, and tugs the beanie down over my ears.

"Ready?"

"Ready." I heave the rucksack onto my back, and follow the line of frat boys and society girls up to the hatch. Carmilla gives me a leg up, and I'm back out in the cold again, snowflakes beating against my cheeks. She hops up beside me and takes my hand.

"Promise me something, Carm."

"Anything."

"Don't let go, ok? I'm not falling into any more snowdrifts." She laces our fingers together tightly.

"I'll never let go. I promise."

We set off into the swirling white ahead of us, and I smile as I consider what a strange looking bunch we must look, a crowd of tightly swaddled hikers with rucksacks the size of small people, one lone cow, and one scantily-clad vampire, standing out against the snow in black leather and lace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course it was Danny. Nice guessing, guys.  
> Back into the storm we go...
> 
> M x
> 
> (tumblr: buckleup-creampuff)


	17. Crushed Velvet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have plenty more kisses, a cow related accident, two almost moments, and one sleeping bag.

For what seems like the fiftieth time, I cough and spit out the mouthful of snowflakes that accompanies every intake of breath. Beside me, Carmilla laughs. 

"Very graceful, cupcake."

"Yeah, well some of us have to breathe."  
She stops walking, one eyebrow raised suggestively. "Not all the time." She pulls me in by our clasped hands, grasps my frozen cheeks between her palms and presses her warm lips to my iced ones, ghosting her tongue along my lower lip. I yield to it, taking a handful of her shirt in my gloved hand. 

"Guys! Would you give it a rest, please? We're not going to make it to the camp by sundown if you keep stopping to suck face every ten meters." I feel Carmilla smirk against my mouth as she pulls away. 

"Sorry, empire state. Just sharing a little body heat." 

"Carm!" I smack her playfully on the arm. "I'm going to talk to Danny for a second, ok? Don't disappear on me." 

"Sure thing, cutie. Don't get lost in her shadow, ok?" She reluctantly untangles her fingers from mine.

"Real funny, vampire." 

I edge past a couple of Summer Soc girls and walk beside Danny. I almost have to jog to keep up. "Hey, Danny."

"Hey, Laura. What's up?" 

"Just thought I'd come chat to you for a bit."

"About?"

"Carmilla. And me."

"Huh. What about it?"  
"I just, I don't want it to... I mean, she and I, I don't want it to...upset you. Like, I know you're really protective, but I know what I'm doing. I wouldn't get into anything I thought was dangerous."

"It doesn't upset me, Laura. Don't get all angsty about it." She grins down at me. "It's just a little surprising, is all. I mean, she's all broody and disaffected, and a vampire, for godssakes. What do you two even talk about?"

"Literature, art...lots of things. She's not so...abrasive when you get to know her."

"I'm sure she's a real pussycat. Well, as long as you're happy, I'm happy for you, ok?"

"I am happy. Really happy, actually. Thank you."

"Don't sweat it, short stuff. Just don't go kissing any wolves, ok? They're not so nice." 

"I can make you that promise, no problem."

"Then we're all good. Now go back to your vampire, she looks a little lost without you." 

"Thanks, Danny." I drop back a bit and let the Summer Soc girls pass me, and grab Carmilla's hand. "Hey, you."

"Back so soon?"

"Mmhm."

"What were you taking about?"

"You." 

"Me? Are you going to elaborate on that, sweetheart?"

"Nah. All good things, I promise." I stretch up on tip-toes to plant a light kiss on her lips. From behind us, I hear a polite cough. Carmilla turns around, grinning.

"No need to worry, June Cleaver. No tongues involved." 

//

LaFontaine holds the map out in front of them, squinting at it. Perry brushes off the snowflakes that land on the paper. They pace the clearing together. "If I'm right, it should be just around...here." Their final footstep drives into the snow, and makes contact with something metal. They grin. "Of course I'm right."  
The Zeta boys jump in to shift the snow, revealing a round hatch with a ladder descending into gloom. Kirsch twists the handle and flips it up, frowning down at it. Danny walks over to him.

"What's with the puppy dog eyes?"

"We've gotta get Bluebell down there." Danny rolls her eyes up to the sky and sighs at length. 

"How about we try and get all the people down first, and then you and one of the bros can try to push her through." 

"Seems legit." 

We all file down the ladder, and LaF switches on a torch. 

"Oh, nice!" 

We're standing on the platform of what appears to be an underground railway. The tunnel is boarded up on both sides, but four train carriages still stand on the rails. The doors have been removed, but other than that, they look like something out of Harry Potter, complete with compartments and an abandoned food trolley in the aisle.  
I remove my rucksack and lean it up against the wall with the others, removing my gloves and tucking them into my pockets. 

"This is so, so cool." 

Carmilla smirks at my awestruck face. "You should cool it a little bit, cutie. You don't want to give yourself a heart attack before you actually board the train." I give her a look, and grab her hand. 

"Come on then, Carm!" I mount the steps into the carriage, pulling her with me. "Oh god, this is incredible." I slide open the partition to one of the compartments, and take a seat by the window. "You sit over there." She obliges, sinking down into the velvet upholstery. "See, now you're the Ron to my Hermione." She groans and buries her face in her hands, but she can't quite hide the little smile that plays at the corners of her mouth. 

"If you wanted to roleplay, I'm sure one of the ginger twins would be more appropriate. Besides, wouldn't I be more of a Harry Potter type? Dark hair, troubled childhood..." 

"Ah, but then we'd just be really close friends, and you wouldn't get to kiss me..." 

"So dye me ginger and call me a Weasley." She crosses the compartment and leans down to capture my bottom lip between her two, putting her knee up on the seat beside me. I wrap an arm around her neck and pull her in closer, playing with the lace of her collar. 

We are suddenly interrupted by a strangled animal cry, a loud crash, and the sound of Danny wetting herself laughing. I disentangle myself from a frustrated looking Carmilla, and stick my head out of the door. "What's going on?"

Danny wipes a tear from her eye, and tries to breathe normally. 

"They were trying to get the cow down the ladder, and-" she creases up laughing again, "it landed on Kirsch!" I look over to the left, and there he is, looking a little bruised but none the worse for wear, sitting underneath the rather confused looking cow.

"Thanks for your help, Summer Psycho." 

Danny just laughs and yanks him upright. "Don't ever change, ok Zeta?" 

//

The space heaters work their magic in the enclosed space. We eat tinned spaghetti hoops on toast for dinner, lovingly crafted by the Zetas over a production line of tin-openers and camping stoves. We sit around on the platform for a while, chatting and reminiscing, and when someone sets off a train of yawning round the tunnel, sleeping bags and blankets are dragged off into carriages. Danny directs the sleepy cohort. 

"Ok, Zetas in carriages one and two, Summer Soc in two and three. LaF, Perry and I will take four, so I guess you two get number five to yourselves." She tosses me a sleeping bag.

Carmilla raises an eyebrow. "Got another one of those lying around?" 

"Sorry, bloodsucker. I can offer you a blanket from Perry's collection?" She holds up a particularly offensive orange fleece. 

"Nah, it's ok. We can share this one." With a wink, Carmilla takes me by the hand and leads me onto the train.  
I spread the sleeping bag out on the left row of seats, shed my coat and a couple of jumpers, then sit down to unlace my boots. As I pull them off, a shadow falls over me. 

"Hey, cutie." 

I look up, and there's Carmilla, startlingly close to my face with her bangs falling over her seduction eyes and her lips slightly parted.  

"Hey, Carm."

She tilts my chin up with a finger, so our lips barely touch. 

She whispers "I thought we could continue where we left off earlier, before we were so rudely interrupted..." then presses her lips hard against my more than welcoming mouth. I grip her collar to tug her in closer, and she puts her knee up on the red velvet beside me, leaning her hips into mine. I run my fingers along the bare skin of her back, where her shirt rides up, and stroke my thumb down her spine. She responds with a whine in the back of her throat, and traps my bottom lip between hers, biting down on it ever so softly. She's practically straddling my lap now, with one hand pressed up against the paneling behind my head and the other gripping a handful of my shirt. She releases my lip and pulls away, and I turn my head to find her mouth again but instead she lays soft kisses along my jawline, making her way down my neck until she finds that spot just below my collar bone that makes my breath hitch in my throat. She pauses for a second, ghosting short bursts of warm breath against my chest, and then locks her lips onto it. I hiss as I feel her teeth scrape against flesh, and then jump as I hear a knock on the sliding door. 

"Uhm, guys? Might be a good idea to keep things PG in here, ok? Some of us are going to sleep right next door." LaFontaine looks equal parts amused and embarrassed. Carmilla looks smug. I'm overheating. "So, uh, goodnight." 

The door closes, and I wait until the footsteps fade away into the next carriage. 

"Well." 

Carmilla lifts herself off my lap and sinks down into the seat beside me, smirking. "Well, what, cutie?"

I catch my breath. "I guess we should go to sleep, then." 

She laughs softly, and stands up, crossing to the other side of the compartment. Taking her time, she shakes off her boots and lies down on the seats, watching me. I unbutton my shirt, leaving just my tank top, and shuffle into the sleeping bag. I lay down opposite her, and she holds my gaze coolly for a minute. 

"Carm?" 

"Buttercup?"

"Just cause we can't...you know, doesn't mean we can't snuggle." I arrange the layers of clothing I had just shed in a sort of nest on the floor, then lie down on it. I unzip the sleeping bag, and gesture to her. "Come here." 

She lifts herself off the velvet seating, and crouches down, sliding in beside me. I tuck my head into her shoulder and wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her in closer. 

"Goodnight, Carm." 

She puts her arm around me and presses a kiss to my cheek, her lips lingering there for a few seconds. "Goodnight, sweetheart."


	18. In Bocca Al Lupo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have four rows of five, a break for lunch, some frozen flirting, and a break for safety.

Another day, another hike through the bitter cold. 

We link arms in four rows of five to avoid being blown away into snowdrifts and losing one another. LaFontaine heads the pack, with Perry and Danny to their left and Carmilla and I to their right. Perry wields an ice-scraper, and intermittently brushes away the flakes that settle on LaF's map. Earlier I heard her bemoaning the lack of a laminator; it's funny the things you miss when you're far from home.

Kirsch takes up the rear with four of his bros and a very reluctant cow in tow. Getting Bluebell back out of the tunnel was a messy, ugly affair, taking half the cohort to hoist her up and the other half to lift her out, whilst Danny yelled expletives and death threats at Kirsch- "I swear to god dairy queen, if it comes down to you or the cow I'm going to have a hard time choosing." 

Carmilla's bare arm is linked with my heavily padded one, and when she reaches up to brush a strand of hair from my cheek and replace it with a kiss, I feel how icy-cold her hands and lips are. She hasn't fed for three days, and I'm trying not to fuss because it only makes her uncomfortable, and besides, if she say's it's not a big deal, it's not a big deal, right? But I'm still concerned, so I nudge her arm. "You're a little bit cold, Carm." 

"So are you, cupcake." 

"You know what I mean." 

She rolls her eyes. "I'm fine. I'll find something when we stop at the next camp." 

Danny leans behind LaF, squinting against the snowflakes and yelling over the wind. "What'll you find?" 

Carmilla mutters "Mind your own business, beanstalk," so I squeeze her arm and yell across to Danny.

"She hasn't 'eaten' in a while, is all." Carmilla tuts beside me. 

Danny grins. "You're welcome to take a bite out of Bluebell, bloodsucker."

"What, and make your puppy dog cry? I'm not entirely cruel." We all glance back to Kirsch, who is tugging on the rope and shouting what I assume are encouragements to the cow, who has dug her heels into the snow and effectively halted the last row. 

Danny throws her hands up in surrender and lets out a sigh so deeply buried in exasperation that Kirsch would have to dig for days to get free. "Let's break for lunch ok, guys. It's not like we're going to make much more progress with Little Bo Peep's sub-par herding skills." Kirsch throws her a sour look, and LaFontaine folds up the map. Perry unfolds it and refolds it, smoothing out the creases. 

People slowly unlink arms and shed their rucksacks, setting down on rocks or fallen trees and breaking out the food. Carmilla lets go of my arm, but immediately laces our fingers together. We sit down on the trunk of a beech tree, and I retrieve the pack of snack cakes from my bag, holding it out for Carmilla to take one. She holds it out in front of her and pinches it delicately between finger and thumb at each end. It cracks neatly down the middle, and both halves fall into her lap with an unpleasantly hollow sound. She just gives me a perfectly deadpan look, eyebrows barely raised. 

"What are you looking at me for? I didn't freeze it on purpose." Around us, people are experiencing similar difficulties with their lunches. Kirsch attempts to take a bite out of his cookie, and ends up clutching his jaw. A Summer Soc girl tips her can of cola upside-down, and the sound of frozen soda hitting the bottom echoes around the forest. Perry inspects her snack cake at close range, tutting at it. LaFontaine rolls theirs between their palms with a frown.

"I probably should have seen that coming." 

"It's not your fault, sweetie. You've been so busy concentrating on getting us to safety, little things like this don't even come close. It's no bother, we can warm them up ourselves." She unzips her coat a little, shoves the snack cake down her front and zips it back up again, hugging her arms to her chest. Everyone stares. 

"What? We can use body heat to thaw them out. Do you want to eat or not?" 

There are murmurs of reluctant assent, the sounds of zips being undone, and the rustling of wrappers being wedged between clothing layers. If there was any doubt before, this is the point at which we lose the last of our dignity. I shiver as the frozen confectionery nestles under my jumper, the cold aching against my chest like a bruise. Carmilla holds up the two halves of her unfortunate snack, and looks at me pointedly.

"I'm not exactly radiating heat right now, cupcake." 

It takes me a second to figure out what she means (she does so enjoy being cryptic), and when it dawns on me I blush scarlet for second, then hold out my hand. "Sure, you can use my body heat." 

She arches an eyebrow and her mouth pulls sideways in a little smirk. "I know that already." Then she pulls back the collar of my jumper and tucks her hand inside, depositing the solid snack cake in my cleavage. I muffle my squeak of alarm as the cold hits very delicate skin, and my muscles tense up in shock. Carmilla's eyes sparkle as she withdraws her hand, trailing her icy fingertips against my collarbone as she does so. 

"Carm-!"

"Something the matter, buttercup?" 

"Uh-" 

Perry looks over. "Are you alright, Laura?" 

I give her a stiff nod. "Just peachy, Perr." 

Carmilla laughs. "The cold took her by surprise." Yeah, it was totally the cold. 

After a few minutes of uncomfortable defrosting, people begin to fish their respective meals out of their clothing and take hesitant bites. Kirsch tests his cookie against his teeth, sighing in relief as a chocolate chip melts under his tongue. The sounds of munching bounce off the trees around us. 

Carmilla toys with my zip, giving me the old seduction eyes in full awareness of the affect they have on my cheeks. You could probably thaw out the entire confectionery aisle on them, the rate she's going. 

"Do you want to get your cake out, or shall I?" 

"I don't know, cupcake, do you want me to?" 

Now is really not the time or the place for this, and she knows it. 

"Carmilla..." 

She's enjoying every minute of it. 

"Just get it out, ok? I don't want a cake-shaped iceburn on my sternum." 

"If you insist, cutie." She slips her hand back down my chest and plucks out the offending item, skimming her knuckles against lace. She takes a delicate bite out of the yellow sponge cake, and smiles. "Perfect." I cough, more than a little flustered, and dig my own wrapped snack out, fumbling with the wrapper. 

As I'm about to take a bite, Carmilla's fingers close around my wrist.

"Don't move." 

"Huh?"

"Shh!" Her face is dark and her eyes are concentrating on something in the distance. Danny turns round to face us. 

"What is it, bloodhound?" Her tone is lighthearted and teasing, but her eyes betray something else. 

Carmilla takes a measured, unnecessary breath in, and tightens her grip on my wrist. 

"If I tell you to run, you have to run, ok?" 

Now I'm panicking, and I can see that people around us are too. 

"Carm, what's wrong?" 

She purses her lips, and narrows her eyes. Something in Danny's face tells me she already knows. 

"Wolves."

There's a collective intake of breath around the group. For a second, nobody moves. 

Then everyone moves at once, shoving food into rucksacks and grabbing anything that resembles a weapon. Carmilla stands up, still gripping my wrist, and Danny's hand flies to the knife on her hip. Kirsch unclips his trident from the side of his rucksack. I go to pick up a vaguely intimidating branch, but Carmilla stops me.

"You're not going to fight them, Laura. You're going to run, remember?" 

"But Carm-"

"But nothing, sweetheart. I told you, I'm not losing you." Her eyes hold mine firmly, but something behind the deep black irises jars with me-fear, uncertainty. 

"I can't lose you either." I feel vibrations beneath my feet, and something the sounds horribly like snarling infiltrates the treeline. 

"You won't, I promise. I can take care of myself."

Danny takes her hat off and puts it in her pocket, gripping her knife in one hand. 

"You heard her, Laura. Go." The Summer Soc girls and Zeta boys have already started retreating into the forest behind us. Perry and LaFontaine hesitate by the fallen tree, waiting for me to follow them. 

"Just...don't die or anything, Carm." 

"Don't be an idiot, cupcake." She grips my chin in her hand and kisses me hard with her frozen lips, then pushes me away. "Now start running before I throw you, ok?"  
I almost say something else, but the set of her jaw makes me think twice. I turn and grab Perry's hand, and the three of us race after the others, with LaFontaine trying to unfold the map as we run. 

"Small clearing to the left...yep...large, ancient-looking oak tree on the right...got it...everyone turn right here!" The group skids through the snow, kicking up flurries of powder in each other's faces and tripping over our own feet. My heart is racing so fast I'm sure Carmilla can hear it, even from back there. I can't think about her right now, because it's taking every ounce of self-restraint not to rip my hand out of Perry's grasp and turn right back around. 

"Sharp left...pile of rocks...whoa, steep hill-" a couple of Zetas stop at the peak, steadying themselves, but one topples over and his bros have to haul him out of the snow pile at the bottom. "Sorry about that. Not far to go now..." 

My legs are burning and the limited oxygen I can take in is crystallizing in my lungs. Perry's nails are digging into my palm, and I can feel the not-quite-healed sprain in my ankle protesting this sudden level of exertion.

"Here, just here. In this rocky outcrop...there should be a cave just...here!" and suddenly I'm pulled into shelter, under the low, jagged roof of a cave. Everyone drops their rucksacks on the floor and tries to catch their breath at once, as one terrified and exhausted unit. I sit down on my bag and rest my face in my hands, taking in ragged breaths that burn my lungs and thinking about Carmilla, Carmilla, Carmilla. 

Perry uses her ice-scraper to remove some frozen spider's webs from the corners, and begins to lay out the camping stoves. "There, now. We're safe. Who fancies a bite to eat?"

There are a few murmurs of acceptance, but people are mostly silent, shaken and drained from the ordeal. 

LaFontaine perches down beside me, twisting their beanie in their hands. "That was number five on The List, huh." I give a fragile nod, and they reach out to take my hand. Perry sits down on my other side and pats my shoulder reassuringly, depositing a mug of cocoa in my free hand. 

"They'll be fine, sweetie. She'll be fine." 

So I guess now I wait. Again. 

//

It gets dark all too quickly. I'm practically falling asleep against LaF, fighting the urge to close my eyes for just one minute, in case I miss the moment Carmilla enters the cave, probably smirking and saying something like "Did you miss me, cupcake?" The mug in my hands has long been cold and empty, but I still cling to the porcelain. 

Perry, in her ever efficient style, has everyone fed and bedded down. Once the camping stoves are switched off and the cave goes quiet, she rejoins us in the mouth of the cave, wrapping a blanket round our shoulders and swapping the mug for something bigger and softer. "I found it in one of the rucksacks, underneath the bread. I think it's yours, yes?" 

Even through sleep-deprived eyes, I'd know that shade of sunshine anywhere. I clasp the pillow in both hands and press my face into it, inhaling the scent of home, and the faintest wisp of vanilla that makes my heart jump in my rib cage. "Thank you." I breathe slowly, my cheek against the soft fabric, and for a second everything is ok. 

Just for a second. 

Perry gasps, and LaFontaine stands up, leaving the blanket in a puddle behind me. 

I snap my head out of the pillow, suddenly wide awake. Is she back?

I see Kirsch first. He's walking slowly, supported by one of the Zetas. His coat is ripped, and there's blood running down one cheek. 

Where's Carmilla? 

Then I see Danny. She's limping, and her face is scratched up from cheek to cheek, right across the bridge of her nose. She's carrying something heavy, something black. 

She's carrying Carmilla. 

A strangled cry erupts from my throat, and I scramble to my feet, dropping the yellow pillow. Perry grabs at my shoulder- "Laura, don't..." but I shake her off and run, out of the mouth of the cave and towards Danny. She isn't moving, Carmilla isn't moving. She has to be alright. Of course she's all right. She's a vampire, and vampires can't die. 

Right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the brief hiatus, I managed to get hit by a car on monday so things have been a little complicated.  
> hopefully the next few chapters will make it up to you ;)  
> M x
> 
> p.s. is everyone ok with a little smut at some point? just checking.


	19. Bruise and Bloom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have no vital signs, a murder of sorts, a mug of blood, and a monologue straight from the heart.

I trip over a snow-covered rock and kick a flurry of snow up into my eyes, but I keep going, nearly barreling into Danny at the bottom of the outcrop. I grab onto Carmilla's shirt and brush a curl away from her eyes. "What happened?! Is she ok? Is she...?" 

Danny just looks at me. "Let's get her back to the cave, ok?" I nod, and follow them back up to where Perry and LaFontaine wait anxiously. Perry's face is deceptively calm, but her hands are clasped tightly together, her knuckles whiter than the landscape. I try to stay calm too, so as not to panic the others, though it's mostly to stop myself breaking down completely. The last thing I said to her was _"Don't die or anything, Carm"_ , and now I could scream at my own stupidity. If there's such a thing as jinxing fate, I've landed the mother of all curses. _Stupid, stupid, stupid, look what you've done._

But she promised. _I can take care of myself._ Stupid, stupid, _beautiful_ vampire _._

Perry lays out a few blankets on the floor, and Danny gently deposits Carmilla's delicate frame on it. I snatch up my pillow and, kneeling down beside her, I gently slide it under her head. The bright yellow makes her skin look ever paler in contrast. LaFontaine takes Carmilla's wrist, and feels for a pulse. Their face is grey and drawn, and they shake their head. 

"I can't find any vital signs."

"Of course not!" I keep my voice low and even, but I want to scream. "She's a vampire, she had no vital signs to begin with." I comb my fingers through Carmilla's tangled hair and touch a finger to her lips. They're cold, colder than when she last kissed me. No, it's not the last time. I won't believe that. I can't.   
The Zetas get Kirsch sat down with a mug of something hot, but his eyes are hollow and staring into the distance. Perry crouches beside him and puts a hand on his shoulder.

"Kirsch, sweetie, what happened?" He opens his mouth, but all that comes out is the faintest shudder of breath. Danny runs a hand through her hair, closes her eyes for a second, and sighs. 

"It was the cow, dammit." A low moan emerges from Kirsch's throat, and Perry begins to dab at his wounds with a cloth. "The wolves were surrounding us. Carmilla was tackling, like, four at once, and I was holding them off ok, but then there's idiot dudebro over here with his godforsaken herd of one, trying to fend off wolves with his trident whilst still clutching the rope. The wolves were crouching, they were about to jump him, and I just...it was either Kirsch or the cow." She shakes her head with a dry laugh that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "I grabbed his arm and shoved him into a snowdrift before they jumped. They got distracted by the cow, it wasn't too hard to beat them off after that." 

Kirsch finally looks up. His lower lip quivers but his eyes are focused, more present. "I...thank you. You saved my bacon, summer psycho." Danny shrugs it off. 

"I'm not your hero, frat boy. I didn't have to pull you out again." 

"Still, I wouldn't be here if you hadn't. You saved a Zeta, that makes you an honorary bro."

"What makes you think I'd want to be one of you?" 

"You get a trident, if you want it." 

"A trident, huh? I'll consider it." She gives him a soft smile, then submits to Perry's makeshift first-aid attention. 

I'm clutching Carmilla's hand, trying to convince myself that she's clutching mine back. LaFontaine is tugging at their hair and mentally scanning through all the medical books they've ever read, trying to find something, anything that could help us. 

"What happened to her, Danny?" 

"She started flagging, towards the end. Laura said earlier, she hadn't fed for a while, and I guess it was showing through. One of the wolves reared up at her, and caught her in the throat with its paw." 'Paw' sounds so domestic, like the tiny little padded feet on pet cats. Completely innocent, totally harmless. "It knocked her back a good twenty yards. She hit a tree, and just...slid down. She didn't get up again." 

Danny's words tear away any shred of composure I was clinging onto, and the sobs come quickly, wracking through my body and leaving me gasping for air. I can't picture it, how much it must have hurt her. She's _immortal_ , for godssakes. It's her own fault for not feeding, for brushing it off when I pressed her...but maybe I should've fussed more. If I'd have asked her, once, maybe twice more, she'd be ok. The noises shuddering from my throat are ugly and uncontrolled, and I'm ashamed of the self-pity behind them. Perry runs over and wraps her arms around me, but I shake her off and bury my head in Carmilla's chest, tear-staining the lace of her collar. "Oh, _Carmilla_." 

"Laura..I don't know what to do." The defeat in LaFontaine's voice is crushing, and Perry takes their hand. 

I take a deep, shuddery breath and look at them. "We can try blood. It's the only thing she really needs, so I guess...we try blood." LaFontaine nods slowly, and Perry purses her lips for a second. 

"Where would we get blood from?" 

Danny throws her hands up in mock defense. "No offence, but I'm not opening a vein." 

I close my eyes and consider. I can't say I haven't considered letting Carmilla bite me, if she wanted, but this situation had never crossed my mind. Of course I would, I'd do anything to save her. The intensity of my conviction scares me more than a little, but I take in a breath to say something, but somebody beats me to it. 

"Bluebell." 

Everyone turns to look at Kirsch. He just nods, sadly. Danny catches on. 

"The cow...or what's left of her. He means, use the blood." A shudder ripples through the group, but people are nodding as well. 

 

LaFontaine runs a hand through their hair, considering. "It's worth a shot. How are we going to collect it?" Perry rifles through a bag, and comes up with a mug. After a second's hesitation, she hands it to Danny, who reacts like Perry had just handed her a live snake. 

"Me?!" 

I look up at her, pleading. "Danny, please. Kirsch is still in shock, and I can't leave Carmilla. Please, for me." She closes her eyes for second, then shoves the mug in her pocket. 

"You tell Lady Dracula she's gonna owe me so badly." Then she turns away and begins the trek back down the hill. 

LaFontaine looks at me for a second. "Are you ok with her, Laura?" I nod, and stroke my thumb across the back of Carmilla's hand. LaF and Perry attend to Kirsch's wounds, and I am alone with her, cold and uncertain. 

I shift so that I'm sitting an an angle to her, then gently lift her head atop the pillow into my lap. I lean down until my forehead barely touches hers, and place a kiss on her cheek. I cannot bear to kiss her lips and feel the ice upon them. Leaning my head against hers, and letting my hair fall over us like a curtain, I begin to whisper to her. 

"Hey, Carm. You did it. You fought off the wolves. Everyone's safe...well, not everyone, if you count the cow. I don't think you would. You kept me safe, like you promised, but you didn't keep yourself safe, you stupid, beautiful vampire. I did tell you, didn't I? I told you, you should eat something, but you didn't, and look where it got you. Oh, Carmilla. This isn't right, you lying down there. I'm the fragile one, the delicate, ridiculous little human. But you're going to be alright, I promise. Danny's gone to get you some blood, and then you'll be ok. You can sit up, rake a hand through your hair, because, no offence, it's a bit of a mess right now, and then you can say something snarky to me and it'll all be ok. Do that for me, won't you?" I take a breath in and brush away the tears that fell on her cheek. "You're scaring me, Carm. I'm scared for you, but I'm also scared because..." I screw up my face and try to choose my words carefully. "I'm scared of how you make me feel, you know? It's like...someone's punched me in the chest, no, punched through my chest, and I can feel it behind my ribcage like a bruise, and it hurts, but I don't want it to heal. Ever. I'm terrified because I've never felt this way about anyone or anything, and it's happened so fast. It's only been two weeks since I saw you in the supermarket. You were so beautiful, you know, I was struck by how utterly incredibly you looked. I was scared then, scared of what you would do to me. I never imagined you would do this." I lift her hand and press it to my chest, right where it hurts. "I thought, oh great, a vampire, that's another thing to add to our troubles. But I was so wrong, Carm. You were the best thing, and if I had to do it all again, I would, if it meant I'd find you. Or you'd find me, cause I think that's how it went. God, I'd let you stalk me to the ends of the earth, even though my dad would have something to say about it. You can meet my dad, when we get out of here. I think he'd like you. He'd get out all the photo albums and show you all the silly photographs from when I was a kid. There's one of me at someone's birthday party, dressed up like a hobbit, ears and all. You'll laugh at that one, I'm sure, with one eyebrow raised and that irritating, perfect smirk of yours. I can't wait to see that." I have to pause again to compose myself. The image of Carmilla sitting at my kitchen table is so perfect, so absurdly wonderful, and I want it so badly. "Please, Carmilla. Just...be ok, for me. You can't just make me fall in love with you and then leave me." I'm taken aback at my own words, but that's the honest truth. I've fallen too hard, too fast in love with the beautiful girl in my lap, and I'm not letting go, not for anything. "I think you feel the same too, but honestly it doesn't even matter anymore, as long as you're ok. I need you to be ok. See, this is the point where you should be kissing me, cause I'm rambling like an idiot, and I don't want to give away all my secrets, you know?" I bury my face in her hair and hug her gently to my chest. "Come on, Carmilla. Come on now." 

I hear footsteps, and the sound of someone unzipping their coat. My head shoots up, and I rake my hair back from my face, hastily wiping away the tears. "Danny, thank god." 

She holds the mug out in front of her like it holds something toxic. I reach out for it and she hands it over gratefully, removing her gloves. "I'm going to have to soak these in the snow for at least a year. That was awful."

"Thank you, Danny. Really." 

"Don't mention it, short stuff. Just make sure she's ok." 

I prop Carmilla's head up on my knee, and carefully lift the cup to her lips, trying not to spill any of the black-red contents. Perry kneels beside me, and gently cups Carmilla's jaw, opening her mouth just enough for me to tilt the mug and pour the blood across her tongue. It empties all too quickly, and I hold my breath, one hand resting against Carmilla's porcelain cheek. Perry takes a step back, and LaFontaine puts their arm around her. The cave goes silent, the air heavy with fearful anticipation.

"Please, Carmilla. Come on." My eyes are welling up again, and my vision begins to blur, when I feel it. Her skin beneath my palm begins to warm up, the heat spreading out from her throat. I blink away the tears and lean in closer. 

Her chest jerks, and her whole body seems to shudder for a second.

Then her eyes open. 

They meet mine, and the deep, dark black is the loveliest thing I've ever seen. I smile down at her, the relief rushing through my body like a tidal wave. I hear Perry gasp, and LaFontaine mutters, "Let's give them some space, Perr" but I'm entirely focused on Carmilla. She blinks a few times, and presses her hand to her temple. 

"Hey, Carm." 

"Hey, cupcake." The sound of her voice sends my heart into overdrive, and I bury my face in her hair again, pressing kiss after kiss to her forehead. "What happened? It feels like someone tried to remove my brain with a sledgehammer. What's with all the affection, huh? Are you ok?" 

"I'm fine, Carm. I'm brilliant, actually." She raises an eyebrow.

"Perhaps you should tell that to your heartbeat." I laugh and kiss her cheek, now wonderfully warm beneath my lips. 

She sits up slowly and runs her tongue over her lower lip, frowning. "Is that...cow blood? Oh god, I didn't murder Kirsch's pet, did I?" 

"No, you didn't. But you're ok now, and that's all that matters, right? Cause I really thought I was going to lose you for a second there. You promised me you'd be ok, and you almost weren't, and you scared me Carm, really. You and your lack of vital signs, honestly. But you're not dead, you're here, looking at me, and I really could not be-" She cuts me off with a kiss, and her lips are so perfectly warm against mine. 

"You were rambling, sweetheart." 

I pull her into a tight hug, pressing my face into her neck. She holds me close and does not question why I am crying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so much angst. I love writing it, but god, it hurts.   
> stay tuned, sweethearts. M x
> 
> PS. thank you for all your kind messages on the last update, I'm doing great. :)


	20. Attraversiamo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A chapter in which we have breakfast, a lot of teasing, a very long walk, and a very important moment.

We wake with the sunrise as it pours into the mouth of the cave, shedding light on discarded cups and sleeping bodies. Those slumbering in the shadows are swiftly woken by the sound of Danny and Kirsch bickering over the last tin of beans- "You owe me one, Zeta. I saved your life yesterday, remember?" 

"Yeah, and I made you an honorary bro, remember that? Bro code states that the first bro to touch the food, gets to eat the food." 

"I'm sorry, 'bro code'? I'm not surrendering breakfast for a set of ridiculous unwritten rules."

"They are written down, actually. They're in the Zeta Omega Mu Charter." 

"Can you prove it?" Danny puts a hand on her hip and cocks an eyebrow. 

"Well, not right now, but-" 

"Thought not." She flicks her hair over one shoulder in a gesture of victory, and reaches down to snatch up the coveted can. However, she finds herself grasping for air, as the can is plucked daintily away by a tutting Perry, who empties the contents into a pan and begins to describe the concept of 'sharing' in a way that very much reminds me of my kindergarten teacher. 

Carmilla yawns, baring her fangs like a panther, and drops her head back on my chest without ever opening her eyes. I kiss the top of her crazy bed hair and try to stretch out the kink in my neck without shifting her. "Hey, sleepyhead. How are you feeling?" 

She makes a rough growling sound from somewhere near my collar bone. "Mmpf. No." 

"And that means...?" 

She huffs, her breath warm against my skin, then lifts her head just enough to meet my eyes. "It means I'm feeling ok, but I don't much feel like waking up just yet." The next part comes out muffled as she buries her face in my neck- "You're comfy, cupcake." 

I was more than eager to comply when LaFontaine suggested that sharing body heat would be good for Carmilla. If I could, I would stay like this all day, zipped up together in the sleeping bag with Carmilla lying on top of me. From her current position, it seems she would agree. With her weight against my chest and her legs tangled with mine, she feels so very present, so permanent, and it's easy to forget how close I came to losing her last night. 

A blush spreads across my face as I remember the things I said to her last night. Very personal things. I may have been terrified, and emotional to say the least, but come this morning it still all rings true. Carmilla's hand works its way out of confines of the sleeping bag and reaches up to pat my cheek. She strokes it gently, then lifts her head to look up at me with a small grin. 

"What are you thinking about, cutie? Your heartbeat just went up a gear, and your cheeks are a little toasty." 

"Just thinking about how adorable you look when you sleep." Some things can wait until later. 

Now it's her turn to blush, nuzzling her face back into my neck and muttering "I'm not adorable, you're adorable. I'm a creature of the night." To prove her point, she parts her lips slightly and nips the side of my throat with a fang. 

"Carm! Not right now." Her eyebrows fly up in surprise, and she bites her lip. 

"What do you mean by that, cupcake?" Oops. I cover my little slip-up by kissing her on the forehead and reaching round her to unzip the sleeping bag.

"Time to get up, creature of the night." She regards me for a second, and when my carefully constructed poker-face doesn't shift, she presses a kiss to my collar-bone and stands up, stretching out her long limbs and creasing her face up against the daylight. I sit up, stretch my sore neck, and pull my ski-coat back on- I'm suddenly feeling the cold again now that I'm not touching Carmilla. 

A pair of Summer Soc girls exchange confused looks as the mugs of cocoa they had been holding seconds before seem to disappear into thin air. A steaming cup is placed in my hands, and Carmilla sits down cross-legged beside me, tilting a mug of her own against her lips. She swallows, licks her lips, then smirks at me playfully. "What? I'm just making sure that my reflexes are still in order." I roll my eyes at her, but begin to sip the cocoa all the same. 

LaFontaine stands in the center of the cave, holding their map aloft and taking a quick headcount. "If we keep a good pace, we could reach the border by sundown. That is, if we only take one snack break." There's a muffled noise of dissent from a few Zetas, but the thought of crossing the border so soon is a great motivator. The group quickly pack up the breakfast things and roll up sleeping bags, zipping up padded coats and shrugging on rucksacks. Carmilla clears away our mugs and knots my scarf around my neck, tucking my beanie over my ears with a little grin. 

"Don't want you getting frostbite now, cupcake." Then she leans in close, under the guise of fixing my collar, and very gently nips my earlobe. "Oops, too late." I turn scarlet, and clasp my hand to my ear. She just grins and throws me a wink as she lifts the rucksack onto my back. 

I choose to ignore the blatant flirting- that too can wait until later. "What's brought on all this domesticity huh, Carm?"

"You brought me back to life, sweetheart. Why, don't you like it when I'm helpful?" She's teasing, playing with the zipper of my coat. 

"I love it, you silly vampire, but technically Danny saved your life. Shouldn't you be helping her, with that logic?" 

"Ah, but somehow I don't think she'd appreciate this." She leans in until her nose brushes my cheek, and kisses me, soft at first, but it deepens quickly. If it wasn't for the current climate, I'd melt right into my boots. 

"Mmm, I guess not" I murmur against her mouth. She responds by taking my lower lip between her teeth, tugging on it with a barely audible purr. Her near-death-experience seems to have turned her up a notch, and I'm not complaining. She slides her hand into the back pocket of my jeans, applying the faintest bit of pressure with her fingertips. I can't muffle the moan that rises from my throat, and her eyes light up. She knows she's got me. 

"Ah, there it is." She withdraws her hand suddenly, stepping away to haul her own rucksack onto her shoulders and leaving me hanging. The look of disappointment on my face must be glaringly obvious, but she just smirks teasingly. "Not right now, cutie." 

She's going to be the death of me. 

//

As it turns out, LaFontaine's ETA prediction was a little off. 

Although there have been no real casualties, it seems like the hala-demon-thingamijig-whatever is making a serious effort to kill us before we reach the border, with such incidents including, but not limited to: four Zetas and a Summer Soc girl buried in three feet of snow, Kirsch suddenly disappearing down a ditch (twice), freezing fog denser than maple syrup, and the thick ice over the river turning out, well, not so thick. 

The forest without end suddenly does end, and the treacherous wooded paths turn to miles of endless icy tarmac. We trek wearily in the darkness through the relentless snow, all the motivation from the morning drained and long forgotten. Carm and I stumble along at the back of the group. Carmilla has an arm wrapped tightly around my waist, ready to whisk me away at the slightest sign of danger. There are tiny icicles hanging from her snow-dusted collar, and a thin layer of frost on her skin. I lean over and blow gently on her neck, defrosting a neat circle of porcelain skin. She takes in a sharp breath, and her fingers dig into my hip. Her voice comes out in a hoarse whimper: "Laura-!"   
I simply smile as I get an idea, pressing a warm kiss to her collar bone. When I remove my lips, a neat cupid's bow glows white in their place. She bites her lip hard, and closes her eyes for a second. "Cupcake, seriously." 

"Is there a problem, Carm?" 

"You're the problem, damn it. Don't test me, cutie, my self-restraint can only go so far." She pulls me in closer so we're hip to hip, and whispers into my ear "I want to be somewhere a little warmer when it finally snaps." 

This is her game, and she won't be beaten at it. Not that I really mind. 

The group suddenly halts, and I feel Carmilla's arm flex around my waist. There's a bit of confusion as somebody in the second row trips over, taking everyone attached to them down too, but once everyone is upright and quiet LaFontaine's voice can be heard from the front. 

"I think this moment deserves a bit of ceremony, guys. Gather round." Everyone shuffles into a poor approximation of a semi-circle. LaF holds their map aloft, as if making sure of something. Perry brushes away a few snowflakes, and they exchange a glance. LaF nods, then folds up the map and tucks it away in a very deliberate gesture. "If you look behind me, you will see that there is a light in the distance." We do. There is. "That light is hanging from the toll point that marks the Austria-Slovenian border." Oh man. We've made it. We've finally made it. "Seeing as they've got light, it's pretty safe to assume that they've got electricity. That means heating, television, internet, hot showers..." Oh god, _showers_. "But there's only one way to find out, right?" They raise an arm in the air. "On your marks...get set...GO!" Their arm drops, and the entire cohort moves as one, breaking into a manic sprint despite the lethargy of only a few minutes ago. For a second I am lost in the chaos, and then I am swept up into Carmilla's arms, the tarmac a blur beneath me. It's hard to tell who the first person across the border is, but suddenly we're there, standing under the toll point with the light above us, everyone gasping for breath with shining eyes and elated faces. Carmilla puts me down gently, and takes my hand. There's a moment of quiet, and then someone gasps. 

"It's not snowing." 

I look up. 

Perry is right. The sky is perfectly clear, a rich black-blue velvet speckled with pinpoint stars. They reflect in Carmilla's eyes, and they shine like galaxies. She catches me looking, and smiles so earnestly that I can feel my heart start a rumba in my chest. She picks me up and spins me around, the stars blurring and swirling into a Van Gogh masterpiece. When the world stands still again, she presses her forehead to mine, our noses brushing together. 

"We made it, cupcake." 

"I know." 

"Thank you."

"For what?" 

"For keeping me." 

"Oh, Carmilla." 

She touches a hand to my cheek. "I'm serious. You're the reason I'm here. Otherwise I'd still be alone." 

"I wouldn't be here without you, either. We did it together, right?" 

"Together." She kisses me softly. "I love that word." She kisses me again, slow and deliberate. "And..." Then she pulls back, and looks at me for a second.

"And?" My voice is soft, the word barely there. 

She closes her eyes, her fingertips drawing patterns on my cheek. When she opens them again, they are clear and certain. 

"And, I love you, Laura." 

_Oh._

_She loves me._

I stop breathing for a second. 

_Oh!_

She examines my face, searching for a reaction. I'm pausing too long, her eyes betray a hint of panic.

_She loves me!_

"I love you too, Carmilla." I lean in and kiss her, hard and fast. She pulls back for a second, and her face is a perfect picture of joy. Then she returns my kiss just as hard, pulling on my waist so we're impossibly close together. 

_Together_. I love that word, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, sweethearts. only one chapter left to go, sadly. it's got a lot in it, I promise. ;)  
> there are bigger things on the horizon, though.   
> curious? take a look at the 'carmilla poau' tag on buckleup-creampuff.tumblr.com or soymelkk.tumblr.com for a few hints.   
> much love, m x


	21. Exeunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> AU. Styria is frozen below zero in the middle of an eternal winter. Laura, Perry and LaFontaine have made base in an underground bunker whilst the world as they know it collapses around them. Many more groups are sheltering across the city. Sometimes though, someone has to venture outside for supplies, facing many Potential Dangers in the process. Laura catches the eye of one such danger.
> 
> A final chapter in which we have Slovenian yelling, a lot of languages, a veritable feast, and the thing that has been a long time coming.

We stay like that for a few minutes, my arms around her neck and hers wrapped around me, holding me close. I am a little light-headed. The others have begun the walk in search of civilization, but I don't feel any sense of urgency just yet. This is one of those big, important moments that you want to remember forever, and I want to make sure I remember every single detail. Her hair against my cheek, the scent of vanilla in the air. Combined with the whole 'finally safe' thing, I think Carm and I need some time to process everything that has happened. It is a little overwhelming. 

She loves me.

My insides are doing happy little somersaults, and I'd probably squeal if it wouldn't ruin the moment. I'm sure she's pretty happy too, and besides, she said it first. Well, I sort of said it first, but she was technically dead at the time so I don't think it counts. Anyway, what matters it that we're here, we're safe, and we both said it. Who'd have thought that the broody, smirking vampire I encountered in the snack aisle would end up being so vital to my own happiness? Don't get me wrong, she's still totally broody and she smirks all the time, but instead of irritating me like it did that first day in the bunker, that little twist of her lip makes my heart do a backflip in my chest. 

Yes, so we've just spent months freezing our asses off in sub-zero temperatures, making camp in bunkers and caves. We've eaten nothing but tinned food for months, we've had to pee outside, and toast was a luxury item. I've been buried alive in a horrific reconstruction of my reoccurring nightmare. But, as I said before, I would not change a thing, because out of all the ugly and hardship I've had to face, I have got Carmilla. Carmilla makes all of it worthwhile. I wonder what she thinks about all this. Probably something distinctly less soppy than the things going on in my head. She's a lot more straightforward than I am, that is, when she's not playing games with me. Not that I object to the games, not at all. Maybe at some point we'll finish a round. 

If this were a movie, there would be fireworks and emotional orchestral music in the background right now. The audience would be cheering, someone would be crying happy tears in the front row. Hundreds of gifs of us would appear across social media platforms within hours. Now that's immortality. Sadly, this is a road somewhere in Slovenia, and instead we have alarmingly bright torch beams slicing across the terrain, and the sound of confused yelling in the distance. Not exactly the perfect accompaniment to my perfect moment. 

Carmilla's arms tighten around me for a second as she tilts her head to listen, then she relaxes. "It's only border patrol." She pulls back and presses a kiss to my forehead, as if apologizing for being the first to break contact. She takes my hand, and walks over to where the others have gathered. "Come on, before someone says something to get us all arrested." 

The main cause of the confusion, it turns out, is that the yelling is happening in two languages. The uniformed border guards are barking questions in what I assume is Slovenian, and the Silas students are responding in confused English, shouting over each other without any sense of coherence. Carmilla pushes her way to the front of the group, and stands in front of the man in charge. He shines his torch in her face, and she frowns against the light. 

He barks out another question. "Kdo ste vi? Od kod prihajate?" 

"Smo študenti iz Štajerske." 

Of course she speaks Slovenian. 

The border guard looks confused. "Iz Štajerske? Toda, kako?"

She reaches out a hand and calmly lowers his torch so that she can see properly. "To je že bolje. Ali kdo tukaj govori angleško? I think that would be easier." Her easy confidence and refusal to be intimidated has the border guard a little bit flustered. Personally, I like it. 

A younger-looking guard pushes through to the front. "Da, I speak English." 

"Marvelous. What can we help you with?"

"Uh...you have just crossed the border into Slovenia."

Carmilla looks pointedly back at the sign that reads 'Dobrodošli v Sloveniji!'. "Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." 

"Yes. But you have come from Styria?" 

"Obviously." 

"But, how? There is the storm, all inhabitants evacuated months ago." 

"And yet, here we are. It's a long story, kid. Maybe we'll tell you all about it sometime. But right now, is there a hotel or something nearby? My friends and I have been hiking for days, and we haven't eaten a proper cooked meal in months. Some of us are in desperate need of a shower." 

"Yes, of course. My grandmother owns the Hotel Zimska, I will show you the way. You will be well looked after there." He points towards a cluster of lights not too far off in the distance. "Come, follow me." 

"Hvala, uh...?"

"Henrik." 

"Lead the way, Henrik. 

As we walk up the winding road, Carmilla wraps an arm around my waist and kisses me absent-mindedly on the cheek. I look up at her and smile. 

"Cupcake, you're looking at me like I just saved your life again." 

"I didn't know you spoke Slovenian." 

"Yeah, well. I got bored sometimes, it was something to do." 

"So you learnt a whole language? My command of English isn't even that great." 

"I've had a couple hundred years, sweetheart. You've had nineteen." Again, that's one hell of an age gap. Best not to think about it. Besides, I'm in love with her, so it doesn't really matter. 

"You've got a point there. So, how many languages do you actually speak?"

"Fluently? Or just a bit?"

"Oh my god." 

She frowns, and thinks for a second. "Eleven fluently, and then eight not so much." 

"Damn. Which one is your favorite?"   
"I used French a lot when I was in Paris. It's a truly beautiful language," she leans in so that her lips brush my ear, and purrs "et vous êtes tout aussi belle, plus belle, ma chérie." I shiver. She smiles. "Oh, you like that?" 

I shrug nonchalantly. "Your accent is really convincing." 

She laughs softly. "Oh, you do like it." 

With that accent, she could convince me to do anything. 

//

Henrik leads us to a small hotel in the main town square. He exchanges a few words with the woman at the front desk, his grandmother, who immediately begins to fuss over us all. "Pridi, hitro! Here, give me your coats, I will hang them up for you." The cumbersome ski-coats that have become almost a second skin for us are finally shed with great enthusiasm, and are whisked away to a back room. "Oh, you must be starving! Here, come into the dining room and take a seat, we will bring you food. What do you like to eat? You know what, don't worry. We'll bring everything." She ushers us into a cozy little wood-paneled room with a huge wooden dining table, and a roaring fireplace on the far wall. The wall are hung with folk tapestries and paintings of flowers, with wall-mounted candlesticks in between. It's so homely I could cry, and so very far from the freezing cave we spent our last night in. The hostess- "Please, call me Lidia"- hands out room keys and has our bags taken up for us. 

Within what seems like only minutes, plates piled high with freshly cooked meats and vegetables are placed in front of us by smartly dressed waiters. "Dober tek!" Everyone digs in without a second thought, knives and forks flashing in the candlelight as they fly from plate to mouth and back again- we eat like starved animals, as if the food could be taken from under our noses at any second. Even Perry has abandoned the use of her napkin, and is happily tucking in to an enormous slice of turkey whilst splattering gravy down the front of her blouse. Carmilla is the only one showing restraint, taking modest forkfuls of her food whilst her fingertips draw patterns on my palm under the table. She sips from a crystal goblet of blood, brought to her without remark when she'd referenced a 'hemoglobin deficiency'. Looking at her now, with the candlelight reflecting off her hair and the goblet poised in her hand, I can see her as she must have looked three hundred years ago: Countess Carmilla Karnstein, regal and refined. If I had been alive back then, I'd have had a gigantic crush on her. 

When the desserts arrive, we can hardly believe our eyes. There are four varieties of cheesecake, each decorated with different candied fruits, and the most glorious looking chocolate cake. Kirsch looks like he's about to cry, and Lidia makes his day when she tells him there's enough for him to have one of everything. 

When I move my hand above the table to reach for a slice, Carmilla's fingertips transfer to my thigh. She starts down close to my knee, tracing words in languages I don't understand. The letters migrate further up my thigh as I finish the meal, delicate script swirling upwards with increasing pressure. My breathing becomes a touch irregular, and I put my fork down with an audible clatter. LaFontaine glances at me from across the table.

"Finished, Laura?" 

"God, yes. I couldn't fit anything else in." 

Danny grins, and digs her fork into a slice of raspberry torte. "More for the rest of us!" Kirsch gives a hearty nod of agreement with his mouth too full of cheesecake to speak. 

I pick up my water glass, and as I lift it to my lips, the hand on my thigh squeezes gently. My hand shakes, and I have to put the glass back down. Carmilla picks innocently at her dessert, and compliments Lidia on the recipe. I pray that the candle flames hide the color of my cheeks. 

When everyone is finally satisfied, the plates are cleared, and we are led through to the lounge area to recover from our meal. There is a small television, and a foosball table in the corner. A very heated Zeta vs Summer Soc match quickly develops, with Kirsch and Danny leading their teams. Before I sit down, Carmilla puts hand on my arm. 

"I'm going upstairs to take a shower, ok? I'll see you later, in our room." Our room. She leans in close, and I can feel her breath on my cheek. "J'attendrai pour toi, mon amour." Then she turns and walks away, leaving a trail of vanilla and woodsmoke in her wake. It takes some serious self-restraint not to follow right away. Instead, I take a seat on the plush sofa beside LaF and Perry, and sink into the cushions with a deep sigh. 

"Is something the matter, sweetie?" 

"I'm ok, Perry. It's just so surreal, you know? Being here."  
They both nod in agreement, and LaF hugs a cushion to their chest. "I know what you mean. To be honest, I was all prepared for another week, maybe even another month in there. It was almost...normal, right? Though that was probably down to you, Perr." They dig Perry in the ribs, and she creases up with a giggle. 

"Stop it, you!" She pats down the cushion they are holding, and lays her head in their lap. "So, now what?" 

"What do you mean?" LaFontaine winds one of the unruly copper curls around their finger idly. 

"Well, we can't go back to Silas, what with all the...unusual things going on there." 

We consider for a moment. In the corner, the Zetas score a goal, and perform an enthusiastic victory chant. Danny and her girls look on, thoroughly unimpressed. 

I hadn't really thought about it before. I mean, I knew I would go back to my dad at some point, but then what? Do I go to a different university? Do I get a job? Suddenly, I have a lot of think about. 

Perry cranes her neck to look up at me. "What about Carmilla? Where is she going?" 

I hadn't thought about that either. 

Now that I've got her, I'm not about to let her go. She doesn't exactly have a home to go back to, but it would be wrong of me to assume she'd just follow me back to mine. Right? She might have other plans. Besides the ones we'd both been considering at the dining table, of course. 

"I'm not sure. I guess I'll ask her later." 

The foosball match gets increasingly louder, with three more goals for the Zetas, and six more for the Summer Soc girls. They perform a spirited victory chant of their own that shames the boys into silence, though not for very long, as Kirsch declares a rematch. 

"Bring it on, frat boy."

I turn on the television, and we watch what seems to be a Slovenian soap opera for a little while. None of us really understand what's going on, but I'm sure it's good if you speak the language. LaFontaine's gentle actions in Perry's hair soon sends her off to sleep, and they smile down at her for a minute, before nudging her shoulder. "Hey, Perr. I think it's time for bed." Perry nods sleepily, and the pair of them shuffle off to their room. I sit for a second, half watching the television, and then switch it off suddenly, when I remember Carmilla's whispered words. I close my eyes for a second, bite back a smile, and stand up. 

"Goodnight, guys." They look up from their rematch, and smile warmly at me. 

"Night, Laura." 

I check the key in my pocket, and climb the stairs to room 307. I put the key in the lock, and bite my lip. The door unlocks, and I push it open, stepping into the room. 

"Hey, cutie. Long time no see." 

Carmilla sits on the floor in front of the fireplace, in a nest of blankets and pillows. The ginormous bed on the far wall is bare. "I thought you'd want to be closer to the fire." 

Her hair hangs in curls around her face, and she's wearing her leather pants again, with a black tank top and a red plaid shirt layered casually over the top. The sight makes my stomach do a somersault- she looks really, seriously good. I lock the door behind me. 

"Come, join me." She reaches out an arm and crooks a finger, and I cross the room without a second thought. I take her hand, and she tugs me down beside her. "I missed you." 

I laugh and say "It wasn't that long, Carm", but I receive the kiss she gives me with equal enthusiasm. Her tongue brushes my lower lip, and I part my lips to let her in, but am interrupted by a sudden twinge in my neck.

"Ouch." 

To my chagrin, she pulls back immediately, looking concerned. "Are you ok? Did I hurt you?" 

"Don't be ridiculous, how could you hurt me? I just slept awkwardly, that's all. My neck's still a little bit sore." 

She gets a curious look in her eyes, and her lips curl up at the corners. "I can help you with that, if you like?" 

"Sure, thanks." 

"Turn around." I shuffle round accordingly, so my back is turned to her. She puts a hand on each of my hips, and tugs me backwards so that I'm sitting in between her legs, my back pressed up against her chest. She brushes my hair over my shoulder, then lays her palms on the base of my neck. Her voice is low, barely there. "Tell me if it hurts, ok?" I just nod, and close my eyes. 

Her thumbs push into the sore muscles, working out the knots with gentle but firm circles. I take a deep breath in and bite my tongue, to stop the hitching breaths from escaping my lips. Her hands move out to my shoulders, smoothing out any tension I had left in them. Her touch sends little flickers of electricity down my spine, and I sigh quietly. 

"You like that?" Her lips are against my ear, and I swallow. "You're awfully quiet, cupcake." She presses her lips to my neck and works her fingers just a little harder, eliciting a fragile moan from the back of my throat. I feel her smile against my skin. "That's better." One hand continues to massage my neck, whilst the other travels down my back to the hem of my shirt. Her fingers toy with the fabric for a second, before sliding underneath. She pushes the shirt up my back, and traces a finger from my shoulder blade to the waist band of my jeans. I shiver as she blows on my neck. I bite my lip again and try to focus on her movements higher up, but then her lips press against the top of my spine, traveling slowly downwards in a pattern of butterfly kisses. My breath catches sharply in my throat, and I twist myself around so that I'm facing her, straddling her lap. Her look of surprise only spurs me on, and I lean in to kiss her hard, one hand on each side of her face. Now its her turn to moan, and she does so without restraint, her tongue parting my lips and her hands tangling in my hair. 

One of my hands travels downwards to grab a handful of her shirt, and I push the fabric off her shoulders, sliding it down her arms. She purrs against my lips and shakes her hands out of the sleeves, placing them on my hips and pulling me in closer. I toss the shirt behind me, and move my lips lower down, kissing along her jawline until I reach her neck. She moans, and then digs her fingers into my hips, flipping me over so that she's the one straddling me. "My turn, sweetheart." 

Her lips latch onto the side of my throat, and she begins to suck lightly on the delicate skin, whilst her fingers trace patterns on my collar bone. I close my eyes and moan softly, earning me a smirk from Carmilla. "That's what I want to hear." Then she reattaches her lips with renewed vigor, sending shocks zipping down my spine. That's going to leave a mark, and I really don't care. 

I begin to undo the buttons on my shirt, but she grasps my wrists in one hand and holds them captive against her chest. "Don't you dare, cupcake. I want to do that part." Then she begins to undo the buttons one-handed, with agonizing pace, placing slow, tender kisses to the bare skin each unbuttoning reveals. 

"Carmilla-!" 

She smiles into the final kiss, achingly close to my waistband, and pulls the shirt from my back, tossing it away from our nest of blankets. Then she puts a hand on my chest and pushes me down into the pillows, sliding her knee between my legs. She has me breathless for a second, but I catch her lips between mine, pulling her down with me. She bites down on my bottom lip, pulling on it gently. She knows I love it when she does that, and I reward her with a shameless moan. I tug on the hem of her tank top, and she raises her arms so that I can pull it over her head. I fling it into a corner, then look back at her. I have to take a second to admire the pale, toned stomach my undressing has revealed, and she raises an eyebrow teasingly. "You like what you see, huh?"

"Yes, and I love you." She bites her lip, and kisses me again softly, before murmuring into my ear.

"I think I love you more." Before I can protest, her hands are traveling down my sides, and she unbuttons my jeans, effectively silencing me. I raise my hips, and she pushes the denim down my thighs, pulling the jeans from my legs and quickly discarding them. She kisses the hollow of my collar bone, gently at first but then more insistently, adding another violet mark to match the one blossoming on my neck. I hiss at the sensation of her teeth against my flesh, and she draws absent-minded hearts with a fingertip on my stomach. 

Her hand reaches behind my back, and plays with the lace of my bra for a second, before she deftly unsnaps the hooks and pulls it away from my chest, adding it to the growing pile of discarded clothing. Her lips attach to my left breast, pressing delicate kisses onto the pale flesh, whilst her hand brushes the other one, making my muscles tense. I gasp softly as her teeth graze my nipple, and my back arches a little, pushing my hips up against hers. Her hand moves to the small of my back, and her nails dig in slightly. 

"Carm?" My voice wavers a bit as her lips work their magic.

She leans back so she can look at me. "Laura?" 

"You know that thing you mentioned this morning? And I said, not right now?" 

Her eyes flash with something indescribable, and she bites her lip. "I know what you mean." 

"Maybe you could..." I trail off, but she doesn't need to guess where that sentence was heading. Her lips part, revealing her fangs, and she leans in close. 

"Are you sure?" 

"So sure." I press my lips to her ear. "Bite me." She gasps audibly, then a guttural moan rises from her throat. Her lips latch onto my neck, and she starts to suck, increasing the pressure until I can feel her fangs pressing into my skin. I close my eyes as she bites down, the pleasure outweighing the pain. _"Oh, dear god-!"_ My breathing comes fast and shallow, and I'm sure she's drawing blood by now. I feel her fingers slide down my wrist and merge with my own, holding on tightly. The pulse point in my neck is thundering out of control, the white hot heat under her lips becoming my sole point of focus, and I arch into her, spurring her on. Her nails dig in to my palm, and I realize how good this must feel to her too. Her throat vibrates with little moans to complement my far louder ones, and it only serves to add to the sensation. 

Eventually, the movements of her lips slow down, and she removes her teeth from my neck with a small sigh. "Don't want to waste you completely, cutie." Her tongue lashes away any remain drops of blood, and she kisses the swollen flesh softly. "Did I hurt you?"

"That was...amazing." I lean back into the pillows and catch my breath as she gazes down at me. "Totally amazing." She smiles, and kisses me. I rest my hand against her shoulder. "We have a bit of a problem though, Carm." 

"Oh? What's that?"

I flick at the leather waistband of her pants. "You're wearing far too much."

Her eyebrows fly upwards in surprise, and she stands up. She quickly unhooks her bra and discards it, then unbuttons her pants and steps out of them with alarming speed. Without a second thought, she whips off her underwear too. When they're far across the room, she smirks down at me. 

"Is this better?"

"You're perfect." I grab her waist and pull her back down on top of me, meeting her in a hard, frantic kiss. All this teasing is doing great things to me, but I'm not sure how much longer I can wait. 

As if sensing my urgency, Carmilla begins to kiss down my chest, across my breasts and down to my stomach. She lingers there for a second, then moves down to the lace waistband of my underwear. She looks up at me then, and tilts her head slightly. I nod back at her, and she smiles. 

Her fingers tuck in to the elastic at my hips, and she pulls the lace down and away, flicking it skillfully from my ankles. For a second I am self-conscious and then I remember, this is Carmilla, and I remember how much I want this. 

She parts my thighs gently with her palms, and I tuck my ankles behind her. She trails light kisses up my thighs, drawing agonizingly close to the ache between them. I buck my hips impatiently, and she brings a hand up to press them back down into the blankets. "Patience, creampuff. Relax." I let out a sigh that is more than halfway to a moan, and lean my head back. She traces a line from one hipbone to the other, making me shudder, so that I am momentarily distracted when her lips touch my clit. I let out a ragged gasp, and my hips rise against her palm. 

"Carmilla- _fuck!"_

She presses her palm firmly against my stomach, and brushes her tongue along my dampening lips. My breathing is shallow, and I moan again, louder than I had anticipated. Her tongue presses lightly against my clit, drawing lazy circles. I grip the blankets tightly, and close my eyes. Carmilla is taking her time, trailing her fingers up and down my thigh as she licks, and managing to drive me insane with her achingly slow pace. I need more. I tangle my fingers in her hair, and push her head in to me. "Carm, please." She finally catches on, and the regular, calm rhythm of her ministrations on my clit become more urgent. I hiss, and arch my back in time with her, as she drags her nails down my hip. She purrs against me, and the vibrations have me gasping for breath. Her tongue laps insistently, and I grind my hips up into her, working my fingers through her hair. 

Suddenly, I feel her slide a finger into me, and I choke on the moan that had been about to emerge. She keeps up the delicious motions of her tongue, and moves her finger in and out in time with the rise and fall of my hips. I am barely even present anymore, biting the inside of my cheek to keep me from screaming out my pleasure. When she adds another finger without breaking rhythm, I splutter and moan aloud, pulling on her hair. She crooks them upwards, pressing right where I need them, and I twist my hips with manic fervor, bucking and grinding as she drives me closer and closer to the edge. 

 _"Carm-oh fuck,Carmilla, oh god..."_ Her name is a prayer on my tongue, though my words are barely audible between my gasps and ragged moans.   
Her lips press into me, and she sucks on my clit hard, grazing it gently with a fang. With that, I am gone, falling, no, flying over the edge, with a sharp cry of "Carmilla!" and one final thrust of my hips. I contract around her fingers, and she continues to move them gently, riding the waves out with me. She presses gentle kisses to my sensitive clit as I slowly come down from my high, and I sink back into the pillows with half-lidded eyes.

"Oh, god." 

She presses one last kiss to the inside of my thigh, then pulls herself up to kiss my lips. "How was it, love?" 

I take a deep breath, and try to bring myself back down to earth.

 _"Incredible."_

She smiles. "Of course it was. You know, I've never heard you swear like that before." 

"I think that more than deserved it." I pull her against me and kiss her again, the energy quickly returning with the oxygen in my lungs. I slide my tongue between her lips, and she copies me, flicking hers against the roof of my mouth. I graze my nails up and down her back, and feel gratified when she shivers in my arms. I pull away, and press my lips to her ear. 

"Your turn." 

Her eyes widen, and then narrow with want, her lips finding mine again with insistent passion. I push her down and kneel either side of her legs. My hand works its way from her back to her waist, and then down to the apex of her thighs. She grinds her hips down hard into mine, and growls against my mouth. I pause for a second, giving her a little taste of her own teasing, and then work my hand lower, parting her folds with my index finger, feeling just how turned on she is. She bites down hard on my lip as my fingertip grazes her clit, and her fingernails dig in to my shoulder. Either way, I'm sure she's drawing blood. I hesitate for another brief second, and she grabs my wrist, pressing my hand hard into her with a guttural moan. I work my fingers against her clit, earning high-pitched mewls of pleasure from Carmilla. I move them in quick circles, enjoying what the friction is doing to the motions of her hips. When I dip my fingers lower, pushing one inside her, she bites down on my collar bone with a sharp hiss. I draw them in and out slowly, and kiss the exposed side of her throat when her head tips back in pleasure. I pick up speed, her moans increasing in volume and frequency as I curl two fingers up inside her and grind my thumb against her clit. _"Fuck, Laura, oh shit, please, please..."_ Her frantic pleas are music to my ears, and they urge me on. 

I move my lips down her chest, leaving a long kiss on each breast, and then coming to rest on her stomach. I latch my lips onto the pale skin, and suck hard on it as I work my fingers inside her, feeling her muscles tensing and jerking beneath me. I leave a trail of blooming poppies down her abs, and then pause to catch my breath. After a second's thought, I remove my thumb, replacing it with my lips. Carmilla yowls, and thrashes against the blankets. I flick my tongue against her softly, then harder, increasing the speed of my lashing with the thrusting of my wrist. 

I suck on her most sensitive point, deep and hard, and it only takes one more curl of my fingers inside her to make her come undone, with a violent jerk of her hips and a high-pitched scream of my name. I ease her through her orgasm, slowly withdrawing my fingers and kissing each of her thighs. "Laura, oh fuck, _Laura."_

Her hand comes down to take mine, and she drags me up so we're face to face. She pants for a second, her face a perfect image of elation, and then smiles blissfully at me. "You're the incredible one, love." I kiss her once, twice, then settle down in her arms. She pulls a blanket over us and kisses my forehead, then rests her chin against my hair with a contented sigh.

The fire is dying down now, but I am perfectly warm. As I close my eyes, a thought occurs to me. 

"Carm?"

"Mmhm?" 

"What happens next?"

"Anything you want, sweetheart." 

"I mean...what do you want to do? Where do you want to go?"

"Wherever you go, if you'll have me." 

I can't keep the smile from my face. "Of course I will. I'd love that. I think my dad will love you too." 

"I hope so." 

I think back to my heartfelt speech in the cave. "A few days ago, I was...afraid. Of my feelings for you. It was scary, how intense they were, how much I needed you." 

"And now? How do you feel?" 

"I feel sure. Intensely sure." 

"Me too, love. Me too." 

"I love you, Carmilla." 

"I know. I love you too, Laura. Now go to sleep. Right now, we have all the time in the world, and we can do whatever we want with it, together." 

Of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. This is the end, sweethearts. I really hope you enjoyed this final, extra long chapter ;) 
> 
> As I mentioned in the last update, I'm moving on to something a little different. Keep an eye on the 'carmilla poau' tag on my blog, buckleup-creampuff.tumblr.com or joan's, my partner in angst, soymelkk.tumblr.com
> 
> Thank you so much for reading.   
> M x 
> 
> p.s. this might not even be the end, to be honest. I may write a little more in this AU, maybe sometime in the future. Who knows. Keep watching.


End file.
